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Building on my ongoing ethnographic research with people living with HIV in different European countries, the paper focuses on RD, a Catalan man I have interviewed three times since 2014. In RD's life narrative, 'crisis' is a recurring theme including both the most blatant forms, like the severe housing crisis in Spain that followed the global financial crisis, and the most ordinary ones like domestic violence. Analysing the impact of crises in RD's perception and experience of the present, interwoven with the past(s) and the future(s), the paper discusses two main benefits of longitudinal ethnographic research. First, it allows to capture how crisis is not just a moment or a phase in RD's life, but acts as context generating a recurring experience of an 'uncanny present' shaped by logics of return and repetition of the past, and anticipation of the future. Second, it supports RD's self‐awareness around his ability to navigate the unknown when experiencing the 'uncanny present'; this highlights the ethical care dimension entailed by such methodology. The paper presents two main benefits of longitudinal ethnographic research. First, it allows to capture how crisis, for some people, is not just a moment or phase but acts as context generating a recurring experience of an 'uncanny present'. Second, it supports participants' self‐awareness around their ability to navigate the unknown, this demonstrating the ethical care dimension of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sideritis royoi is found in the rocky limestone habitats of the Port Massif (southern Catalonia, Spain). The species was first collected by the local botanist Lluís de Torres in the late part of the 20th century, but the specimens have remained unidentified positively in herbaria for over 40 years. Sideritis royoi likely belongs to section Sideritis subsection Hyssopifoliae and shows some morphological affinities with the relatively widespread South European species S. hyssopifolia L., but it differs from this species because it has subspinescent upper leaves, the main surfaces of its leaves are glabrous or glabrescent, the main abaxial surface of its bracts is without eglandular hairs, and due to the fact that it has shorter inflorescences. Weaker similarities have also been observed with some species belonging to S. subsection Fruticulosae Obón & D.Rivera. In this paper, a description for the new orophilous species is provided, along with a detailed illustration, field photographs, and a comparison with closely related species. We include an assessment of its conservation status and a dichotomous key for the identification of all the species of Sideritis subsection Hyssopifoliae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main identified causes of energy poverty (EP) is the low energy efficiency of housing. In this line, since 2018, public administrations and NGOs collaborating with the Naturgy Foundation's Energy Renovation Solidarity Fund have implemented several shallow renovation interventions in 3660 Spanish vulnerable households. However, the effects of these measures on domestic energy affordability were not evaluated before because of a lack of a proper method. This paper presents a methodology to objectively assess the impact of these interventions on EP. In particular, this work proposes calculating a hidden EP indicator using data from a primary survey and applies it to a local case study (54 vulnerable households in Catalonia—10% of dwellings renovated by the Fund in the region) by processing their characteristics and energy bills before and after the implementation of the interventions. Considering the whole sample of households analysed, the hidden EP indicator drops by 10% in absolute terms (11.2% in relative terms) after the retrofit, and the average EP gap goes from 423 €/year to 313 €/year, thus marking a significant positive effect of the analysed interventions on the EP situation of this population. Eventually, extrapolating the results to the vulnerable population in Spain, this paper points out a series of recommendations that could be useful for decision-makers and organisations when designing and implementing shallow renovation interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary: What is known on the subject?: Home treatment teams help people in a mental health crisis to recover. The staff goes to the person's home, avoiding the need to go to the hospital and providing care in the person's environment.The teams have been created in our country in recent years, becoming part of the mental health care network. What this paper adds to existing knowledge?: The paper presents the functioning of a CRHTT, the type of care it provides, and the coordination with the rest of the care network. It also shows the clinical results obtained in the first two years since its creation, supporting the CRHTT's effectiveness in accompanying people with mental health crises and reducing the need for hospital care.The outstanding factors in the team operation were coordination fluidity with referral services (facilitating accessibility), a prolonged care time (about two months), and continuity of care during the CRHTT intervention (the same CRHTT professionals visited the user and the family at home) and upon discharge (CRHTT staff organized joint visits with the professionals who would care for the user and the family after home treatment).The CRHTT followed a person‐centered orientation based on horizontality and dialogue. The CRHTT fostered the inclusion of the family and social network in the treatment and a deep understanding of the crisis considering social determinants. What are the implications for practice?: Flexibility, approach to the person's environment, dialogue, shared decision‐making, and the inclusion of the family and social network in the treatment are central factors in CRHTT functioning. It helps the person regain control over their life and enhance their resources to face possible future crises.Training in crisis management, community mental health and family care, and teamwork (which implies joint home visits and co‐responsibility with the rest of the staff, user, and the family) are relevant for CRHTT professionals. Introduction: Crisis resolution and home treatment teams (CRHTTs) provide intensive home care to people in a mental health crisis, becoming an increasingly widespread alternative to hospital admissions. However, there are wide variations in service delivery, organization, and outcomes, and little literature on how these teams work in clinical practice and different settings. Aim: To share the organizational functioning, the therapeutic approach, and the outcomes obtained in a CRHTT in Catalonia, Spain. Method: A descriptive analysis of the functioning of a home treatment team, the characteristics of the people served, and the clinical results from November 2017 to December 2019 are presented. Results: One hundred and five people were served, with an average stay of 57 days. And 55.24% were women, and the mean age was 41. Most people could overcome the crisis at home, and 5.71% required hospital admission during home care. A statistically significant improvement was observed in the results of the GAF and HoNOS scales at admission and discharge. Discussion: Despite reduced staff, home care was an alternative to hospital admission for most people treated. Implications for Practice: Flexibility, teamwork, and collaboration with the social network are relevant factors when accompanying the recovery process at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the course of the Spanish Civil War, Francoists set up special teams to seize documents from organizations which had backed the Popular Front government. In the immediate wake of occupation, these squads would frequently enter towns and cities and appropriate lorry loads of paperwork which they ferried to Salamanca. Nationalist officials trawled through their copious bounty in order to scout out the names of opponents who could be punished for their activities in favour of the Republic. For good reason historians have viewed the Salamanca Papers as a stark example of state directed plunder. By focusing on the role of volunteers in willingly providing information to the authorities, this article seeks to complement the focus on the role of the state. The article also shows that the authorities exploited the information they gleaned to pick out and reward supporters as well as identify and punish enemies. The article further discusses some of the efforts made by Salamanca officials to return documents to Francoists. By examining the Salamanca Papers from these perspectives, the article seeks to throw light upon the close ideological and emotional identification between Francoist state officials and some of their eager supporters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Spain, regional policies on gender equality in the workplace must be coordinated with other policies at the European and national levels, in a multi-level governance framework. With this approach, this paper analyses, transversally and with a power distribution perspective, the areas of action and the powers of the autonomous communities in terms of making policies that achieve real equality between women and men in the workplace. The main premise of this paper is that in the field of labour relations, although autonomous communities do not have regulatory powers, they do have a wide range of action in the design and strategies of socio-labour policies and in their implementation. It is concluded that in Catalonia, the Statute of Autonomy of 2006 — which extensively recognises the rights linked to gender equality in the workplace — orders the creation of its own Catalan labour relations space where progress can be made in this direction through agreements and collective bargaining. Likewise, the approval of the Catalan Equality Law, although late, regulates a series of policies, objectives and instruments that allow for progress in greater gender equity in the field of labour relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

Critical geopolitics conceives of the internal organization of the state as a relevant geopolitical subfield. In this context, this paper aims to develop a geopolitical interpretation of the covid-19 crisis management in Catalonia and Spain from March 2020 to mid-April 2020. The paper begins by providing an overview of internal geopolitics literature by Spanish geographers, focusing on the Catalonia/Spain conflict, followed by a thorough analysis of written and oral materials compiled for that purpose. Three discursive periods are identified: up until the declaration of the State of Alarm in mid-March 2020, the first two weeks with this in force, and the first half of April 2020. The paper evinces that the examined materials support contested visions about the distribution of territorial powers within Spain, while also unearthing some specificities that ultimately relate to the Catalan national question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The aim of this article is to assess both the economic and social value of balneotherapy and spa tourism, being the first paper in carrying out this analysis. The study has been conducted in Maresme, a region of Catalonia, Spain. On the one hand, an Input-Output (IO) model with a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) has been carried out to assess the economic value. On the other hand, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) has been used to monetise the social value in this region, taking into account, among other concepts, direct and indirect health profits, given that balneotherapy helps to alleviate various diseases. The results show that whereas the economic multiplier is 1.529 considering the direct and indirect effects and 1.712 taking into account also the induced effects, which are similar to health and medical tourism multipliers, social value generates additional positive value, given that the cost-benefit ratio is 1.858. The theoretical implications of the paper as well as the findings' implications for policy so as to encourage investments in spa tourism are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of Catalonian nationalism has historically been a highly controversial subject in Spanish politics. Although relevant and debated for decades, we can observe significant changes in its dynamics throughout the years. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 laid out the current territorial organization of Spain as a «State of Autonomies», initially supported by the Catalonian nationalism movement. However, this support has gradually decreased to a blatant opposition. More recently, the Catalonian nationalism has evolved to a completely secessionist movement. An evident example of this is the referendum held on 10-1-17, as well as the protests and controversies surrounding it. This change of paradigm was not a sudden drift, but rather a gradual transition of the societal perception of the State of Autonomies and how the Spanish territorial administration affects Catalonia. This paper explores how the Constitutional Court ruling 31/2010 influenced this societal and political change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the presence of women in Catalan political institutions from 1980 until now. First, this report reviews the measures that have been adopted over the years to reduce male over-representation. Second, it presents women’s political representation in Catalonia, with a special emphasis on the Parliament, the Government, and local authorities. It also analyses the factors that account for this gender gap. Third, it exposes the measures that have been implemented in other places — such as Spain’s autonomous communities, European countries, or Latin American countries — to boost women’s representation. Finally, this paper suggests measures that can be implemented to improve or maintain the representation of women in Catalan institutions. This study focuses on Catalonia since it allows the analysis of the presence of women in sub-state institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the evaluation of educational policies for non-sexist education in Catalonia from the Spanish democratic transition on. It starts by analysing the legal framework of education, both in Spain and Catalonia. Many different laws have been approved during these years. After this first part, we analyse the action of the Conselleria d’Educació, the education authority in Catalonia. What did this institution do about non-sexist education? The most important action was an Educational Innovation Programme from 2005 to 2010, and then during the last three years. We also mention a few actions from other institutions or schools. However, we must conclude that no institutional policy has consistently been developed. Finally, we provide some notes about non-sexist research in schools, teachers’ training, and books and papers about what is referred to as “coeducation” in Spain. A big change has to be made in the years ahead in order to achieve a non-sexist education in Catalonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The Gloria storm rainfalls affected Catalonia from 20 to 23 January 2020 and triggered multiple landslides, some of which affected buildings and infrastructures (such as roads and railways). This paper presents the rainfall and landslide datasets collected during the event, and evaluates the performance of a regional landslide early warning system (LEWS) during the Gloria storm applying a fuzzy verification method. The majority of the inventoried landslides can be classified as slides, involving a limited volume of sediment (up to 10 m3), and were triggered in cut slopes along linear infrastructures. Rainfall accumulations were significant in the whole region, especially in the Montseny area, where over 450 mm were registered in 96 h. Generally, the LEWS computed moderate and high warnings in the areas where large rainfall amounts were recorded, and showed good correspondence with the locations where landslides were reported. The fuzzy verification method has been applied using neighbouring windows of different sizes to obtain scale-dependant information on the LEWS performance. The skill of the LEWS considerably improves when enlarging the neighbouring window size from 500 m to 1 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we estimate the impact of higher early preschool access on offending behavior later in time, exploiting a nationwide public preschool expansion that took place in Spain over the 1990s. This is the first study providing evidence on the relationship between preschool and crime using a large-scale, universal-access program rather than targeted initiatives reserved for disadvantaged children. Our identification strategy relies on the staggered implementation of the Spanish preschool expansion across regions and birth cohorts. We link the education data to a unique administrative crime dataset recording the offenses committed in the region of Catalonia over the period 2009–2014. On average, a 1 percentage point increase in preschool access among the age 0–3 population yields 1.6% fewer crime actions during youth and young adulthood. Larger effects on impulsive-crime categories provide suggestive evidence for non-cognitive-skills improvements being important drivers of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between the COVID-19 crisis and multinationalism in Spain from two complementary angles. First, it provides an overview on how the multinational and decentralized character of Spanish territorial politics shapes the response to the crisis. We find that the management of the crisis reflects and exacerbates the main features of the Spanish territorial model as a case of incomplete federalism with severe intergovernmental deficits. Second, we analyze the effects of the pandemic on Catalan self-determination demands through a brief description of parties, public opinion and governmental reactions. We argue that Catalan secessionism faces several new impediments as a result of the pandemic, but we also find that the COVID-19 crisis provides a window of opportunity for this movement regarding grievance-building and regional governmental performance and salience. We conclude with a general reflection on the ambivalent impact of COVID-19 crisis on Spanish regionalism and territorial politics. Overall, the COVID-19 crisis does not seem to mean an improvement but a potential setback for the accommodation of national diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was aimed at reviewing recent studies related with the impact on environment and human health of metals and PCDD/Fs near cement plants. It has been particularly focused on the impact of cement plants located in Catalonia, Spain, which have been monitored by our research for more than ten years. Environmental monitoring studies were performed under different cement plant conditions. While some of our studies examined temporal trends of the levels of the above indicated pollutants, the main goal of other surveys was to assess the impact of implementing alternative fuels in the facilities. Even one of the studies was performed before and after the cement plant temporally ceased its industrial activity. The impact of cement plants burning alternative fuels on the emissions of metals and PCDD/Fs elsewhere was also reviewed. Regarding the cement plants in Catalonia, no significant differences were found, neither in the long-term follow-up studies, nor when alternative fuels are used, nor when a cement plant temporally stopped its activity. These results are in agreement with those reported for several stack emissions of other cement plants working under different conditions. We conclude that emissions of metals and PCDD/Fs by cement plants working with the best available techniques (BAT), should not cause a significant negative impact neither on the surrounding environment, nor on the human health of the population living in the neighborhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new trend of politically polarized media in Spain has led the authors of this paper to rethink the relationship between media and citizens within selective exposure, perception and retention theory and its influence on electoral behavior. The selection of political information contents by citizens during electoral campaigns forms a diet that influences their votes. Therefore, this research article attempts to clarify the relationship between the consumption of political information from mass media and the voters' electoral behavior amid the new media reality of the country. For this, and per the post-electoral surveys of the Center for Sociological Research (CIS, for its acronym in Spanish), it studies the effects of citizens' media exposure during the 2015 and 2016 general elections on voting. In these years, there was a crisis in the party system in Spain after several decades of bipartisanship and institutional stability. The results allow concluding that the political discussion in the country builds on two lines of confrontation: ideological (left-right) and territorial, which politically polarizes those citizens from territories with their own identity (mainly Catalonia). Media positively influence the political narrative since voters consume political information from related media as a symbol of electoral reaffirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional pottery industry was an important activity in Catalonia (NE Spain) up to the 20th century. However, nowadays only few workshops persist in small villages were the activity is promoted as a touristic attraction. The preservation and promotion of traditional pottery in Catalonia is part of an ongoing strategy of tourism diversification that is revitalizing the sector. The production of authenticable local pottery handicrafts aims at attracting cultivated and high-purchasing power tourists. The present paper inspects several approaches to set up a scientific protocol based on the chemical composition of both raw materials and pottery. These could be used to develop a seal of quality and provenance to regulate the sector. Six Catalan villages with a renowned tradition of local pottery production have been selected. The chemical composition of their clays and the corresponding fired products has been obtained by Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). Using the obtained geochemical dataset, a number of unsupervised and supervised machine learning methods have been applied to test their applicability to define geochemical fingerprints that could allow inter-site discrimination. The unsupervised approach fails to distinguish samples from different provenances. These methods are only roughly able to divide the different provenances in two large groups defined by their different SiO2 and CaCO3 concentrations. In contrast, almost all the tested supervised methods allow inter-site discrimination with accuracy levels above 80%, and accuracies above 85% were obtained using a meta-model combining all the predictive supervised methods. The obtained results can be taken as encouraging and demonstrative of the potential of the supervised approach as a way to define geochemical fingerprints to track or attest the provenance of samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternaria and Cladosporium are the most common airborne fungal spores responsible for health problems, as well as for crop pathologies. The study of their behavior in the air is a necessary step for establishing control and prevention measures. The aim of this paper is to develop a logistic regression model for predicting the daily concentrations of airborne Alternaria and Cladosporium fungal spores from meteorological variables. To perform the logistic regression analysis, the concentration levels are binarized using concentration thresholds. The fungal spore data have been obtained at eight aerobiological monitoring stations of the Aerobiological Network of Catalonia (NE Spain). The meteorological data used were the maximum and minimum daily temperatures and daily rainfall provided by the meteorological services. The relationship between the meteorological variables and the fungal spore levels has been modeled by means of logistic regression equations, using data from the period 1995–2012. Values from years 2013–2014 were used for validation. In the case of Alternaria, three equations for predicting the presence and the exceedance of the thresholds 10 and 30 spores/m3 have been established. For Cladosporium, four equations for the thresholds 200, 500, 1000, and 1500 spores/m3 have been established. The temperature and cumulative rainfall in the last 3 days showed a positive correlation with airborne fungal spore levels, while the rain on the same day had a negative correlation. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated to measure the predictive power of the model, showing a reasonable percentage of correct predictions (ranging from 48 to 99%). The simple equations proposed allow us to forecast the levels of fungal spores that will be in the air the next day, using only the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall values provided by weather forecasting services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes to use chromatographic fingerprints coupled to multivariate techniques to authenticate the geographical origin of extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO) of the Arbequina botanical variety. This methodology uses the whole or part of the chromatogram as input data for the classification models but does not identify or quantify the chemicals constituents. Arbequina monovarietal EVOOs from three geographical origins were studied: two from adjacent European Protected Designation of Origin areas, Siurana and Les Garrigues, in Catalonia in the northeast of Spain; and the third from the south of Spain (Andalucia and Murcia). Three chromatographic fingerprints of each sample were obtained by both reverse and normal phase liquid chromatography coupled to charged aerosol detector (HPLC-CAD), and high temperature gas chromatography coupled to flame ionization detector [(HT)GC-FID]. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used as exploratory technique and soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA) and partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were used as classification methods. High and low-level data fusion strategies were also applied to improve the classification results obtained when the data acquired from each analytical technique were separately used. The results were best for the PLS-DA model with low-level fusion of two techniques (HT)GC-FID with HPLC-CAD, independently of the phase mode. Sensitivity and specificity were 100% in almost all classes, error was 0% for all classes and an inconclusive ratio of just 4% was obtained for the Les Garrigues class due to double assignations. Image 1 • The authentication of the geographical origin of extra-virgin olive oils was studied. • Samples were analysed by chromatographic fingerprinting. • Fingerprints from gas and liquid chromatography, in both phases, were obtained. • Multivariate classification by SIMCA and PLS-DA was implemented. • High and low-level data fusion were applied to improve the classification results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the 2017 pro-independence referendum took place in Catalonia, many municipalities changed the names of the streets to commemorate the event. In order to do so, in some cases the names related to the central state were removed, such as those related to the constitution or the king. By performing a frame analysis, this article explores how the majority nationalist parties, which identify themselves with the state, assessed this initiative made by the pro-independence local authorities. The paper thus offers new evidence to the existing literature on majority nationalism, a subject poorly studied in comparison with the total amount of research devoted to peripheral nationalism. On the basis of street naming as a nation-building tool, two are the main empirical contributions: firstly, the representatives of majority nationalism defended the symbols linked to the state as neutral and representative of the whole citizenry, while those of the minority group were framed as partisan and deeply divisive. On the other hand, we stress the importance of the democratic transition and the 1978 constitution as relevant rhetoric resources of the national narrative in contemporary Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Capital needs a favourable scenario for its reproduction and the lack of institutional guarantees can become a substantial limitation. Although its mobility is an intrinsic characteristic of the current phase of globalization, this is the reason that the Catalan secessionist attempt, which reached its peak with the referendum of 1 October 2017, promoted the transfer of a big number of companies in this Community to other Spanish regions, mainly to the Community of Madrid. This paper is structured in three sections and aims to analyze the historical and political circumstances in which this process occurred, as well as its consequences (loss of millions of euros in bank deposits, transfer of management centers, cancellation of international events, reduction in the number of tourists, etc.). Likewise, it examines, from opinions of experts, the effects that this process will continue to have in this and other Spanish Autonomous Communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to report on a case study concerning the development of sustainable energy partnerships involving engineering faculty and undergraduate students at the University of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Design/methodology/approach: Faculty were motivated to seek partnerships with public and private entities in the local area for the purposes of realising mutually beneficial outcomes. The educational programmes of future engineers, when sustainability is considered, are analysed. Education for sustainable development has to include multidisciplinary active learning as a desirable competence. Active learning can be obtained when problems are based on real life because they are most motivating for students. Constructive alignment component is obtained because learning objectives are linked with learning activities related to the needs of public and private entities. Findings: Through the provision of technical expertise, the adoption and success of renewable energy projects was facilitated on the one hand, while final year undergraduate students benefited in terms of hands-on experience in helping to bring these projects to life, drawing on the knowledge and skills they had acquired throughout their degree programmes. These works are addressed to students by faculty members with the aim of developing and promoting renewable energies. Outcomes from partnerships surpassed expectations; not only were different benefits realised as were initially hoped for, but this success led to partnerships being sustained over time. Originality/value: Fossil fuel-based energy systems are associated with a myriad of negative environmental and social externalities. It is difficult to overstate the importance of transitioning towards alternative low carbon energy sources for climate change mitigation which are less centralised compared to the status-quo for energy security and energy independence. By actively facilitating the development of decentralised renewable energy sources in Catalonia, the projects reported herein are of significant value in social environmental and educational terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the selective exposure theory, individuals are exposed to the media based on their ideological orientations, and they seek messages that match their convictions. This paper proposes to expand the study of selective exposure beyond the left-right cleavage. It does so by exploring the importance of positions on the centre-periphery axis as predictors of media preferences through a logistic regression using data from the latest post-election survey conducted in Catalonia by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research (CIS). The results underscore that there was a clear segmentation of audiences according to national identities: whereas citizens with nationalist inclinations preferred to consume Catalan media, non-nationalists preferred Spanish media. In addition, national identity was the most important explanatory factor for radio and television preferences, as opposed to the written press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buried in the footnotes of his famous 1976 essay, Robert Brenner left the remark that Catalonia had experienced an agrarian transition to capitalism in parallel to England. This important claim has been completely forgotten by his followers of the political Marxist tradition, who since then have developed his views on the origins of capitalism. Building on the specialist literature, this article revisits the question of the Catalan transition through the prism of political Marxism and teases out its implications. In particular, it argues that the Catalan case illustrates the centrality of agency and subjectivity in the process of capitalist change. Contrary to Brenner's claim, this paper will argue that pre‐capitalist social property relations persisted in agriculture throughout the period of transition. Instead, the region's capitalist breakthrough was prompted by sociocultural struggles in its 18th‐century proto‐industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper has three objectives: firstly, to evaluate how the extent of clustering in wildfires differs across the years they occurred; secondly, to analyse the influence of covariates on trends in the intensity of wildfire locations; and thirdly, to build maps of wildfire risks, by year and cause of ignition, in order to provide a tool for preventing and managing vulnerability levels. For these objectives we analysed the spatio-temporal patterns produced by wildfire incidences in Catalonia, located in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. The methodology used has allowed us to quantify and assess possible spatial relationships between the distribution of risk of ignition and causes. These results may be useful in fire management decision-making and planning. The methods shown in this paper may contribute to the prevention and management of wildfires, which are not random in space or time, as we have shown here. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper focuses on tensions between the governments of Catalonia and Spain, using as a proxy the number of instances of litigations per year between these two bodies brought before the Constitutional Court between 1984 and 2014. On the one hand, descriptive statistics demonstrate that Catalonia is the most conflictive region in Spain. On the other hand, inferential statistics indicate that periods of absolute majority in the Spanish Parliament, the presence of a nationalist government in Catalonia, and funding problems of the Catalan Government tend to increase the number of inter-governmental conflicts with the Spanish Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to increase the number of days with meteorological conditions conducive to uncontrollable wildfires. Thus, it is necessary to strengthen the capacity of wildfire-prone regions to minimize the adverse impacts of these wildfires by creating resilient landscapes. In this paper we develop a participatory multi-criteria evaluation to identify and map landscape values and prioritize areas according to these values in the Montseny Biophere Reserve (Catalonia, NE Spain). Then, we draft a wildfire management strategy to protect the areas that have been prioritized through selected fuel reduction sectors that would reduce wildfire intensity. Finally, we emphasize the added value of a participatory multi-criteria evaluation in the adaptation to and management of expected megafires. We find that the integration of landscape values through participatory multi-criteria evaluation has the potential to alter wildfire management strategies by adding fuel reduction sectors and changing their implementation order. However, the implementation of the planned fuel reduction treatments faces socioeconomic and institutional barriers that call for a deeper engagement with transdisciplinary project design and transformative science. • A participatory multi-criteria evaluation approach is applied to develop a fire management strategy. • The prioritized areas to protect against wildfires are those containing a great number and diversity of landscape values. • The fire management strategy is based on spatially targeted fuel reduction treatments. • The outcome of the evaluation determines where and in which order fuel reduction treatments should be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the effect that knowing the Catalan language has on individuals' comparative advantage to perform certain jobs in Catalonia (Spain), where Catalan and Spanish coexist. Design/methodology/approach – Using census data for 1991 and 1996, and for individuals born in Spain, the paper first estimates a Probit model for individuals' level of Catalan proficiency in order to correct for the possible endogeneity of Catalan knowledge, as it may be jointly determined with occupational selection or be a reflection of unobserved human capital or innate ability. Then, it estimates a bivariate Probit model for the probability of choosing a given occupation conditional on a given Catalan proficiency level. Findings – The paper finds that advanced proficiency in Catalan reinforces selection into being employed, being an entrepreneur, and into white-collar occupations and communication-intensive jobs. Being able to read and speak Catalan increases selection into white collar occupations by between 11 and 16 percentage points, while writing Catalan increases by 4 to 7 percentage points the probability of engaging in services, and government and educational activities. Practical implications – Because census data are cross-sectional panel effects on language selection cannot be analyzed. Nevertheless, the paper's results suggest that investing in learning the local language, at the firm and the government level, improves job matching and assimilation of workers to multilingual economies. The authors suggest a cost-benefit analysis to assess the effectiveness of language policies for further research. Originality/value – The results contribute to the scarce literature on the economic value of a language, i.e. on how much language knowledge as a form of human capital reinforces individuals' comparative advantage to perform certain tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time of the war of the Spanish Succession (1705-1714), Joan Salvador and James Petiver, two apothecaries with an impassioned interest in understanding nature, began a long and fruitful correspondence that would only come to an end with Petiver's death in 1718. A previous paper sets out and discusses these two naturalists' correspondence (which is quite exceptionally complete) during the wartime period between the end of 1706 and the fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714. This paper completes the review and discussion of their correspondence up until the death of Petiver in 1718. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilitarian greyware ceramics are one of the most abundant artefacts at rural sites in Medieval Catalonia, Spain, and were manufactured by numerous long-lived production centres. The stylistic homogeneity of this class of pottery has traditionally restricted its contribution to the archaeological interpretation of the region. However, recent scientific analyses of excavated kiln sites are offering new perspectives via the establishment of compositional reference groups for greyware ceramics. Using one such dataset, from the large workshop of Cabrera d'Anoia, this paper examines the distribution and consumption of utilitarian grey pottery at 25 Medieval sites across Catalonia. The study reveals a pattern of several regional production centres distributing their goods to small villages within the surrounding countryside and, in some cases, competing for rural markets. This is interpreted in terms of the mechanisms by which greyware pottery was distributed, as well as the socio-political and religious influences on its supply and demand in Medieval Catalonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of the deprivation inequalities existing between immigrants from poor countries and natives. We assume that this risk is mainly explained by social class, but it is also necessary to consider immigrant-specific factors that may increase it. The analysis consisted of a combination of factorial and cluster analyses in order to obtain a typology of material deprivation, as well as several multinomial logistic regressions to determine which socio-demographic factors are more closely associated with each profile of material deprivation. The results indicate that social class is a powerful factor in explaining the material deprivation of immigrants from poor countries, but that it is not the only one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The paper seeks to describe the Catalan corporate e-learning providers from the perspective of quality perception, quality assessment and quality control. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review reveals key aspects of the definition of quality in e-learning. The results of the review constitute the basis for exploratory research into the way quality is perceived and handled within the Catalan corporate e-learning sector. Findings – It was found that the organisations studied attribute major importance to quality dimensions related to any kind of teaching/learning, whereas other dimensions with clear relation to e-learning receive lower priority. The study also reveals certain incoherence between the dimensions of quality and the applied strategies of quality assessment and control. Research limitations/implications – The presentation of pre-defined quality indicators could have led to a distortion in the answers given to the questionnaire presented. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the findings using interviews addressed to quality managers and focus groups in organisations representative of the sector. Originality/value – The paper integrates the discussion of theoretical approaches and models for quality in e-learning with the description of important players in the field of e-learning that had not yet been studied from the perspective of quality perception and quality control. It can be understood as an exploratory step towards further studies in order to contribute to an improvement in the quality policies applied in the corporate e-learning sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with cultural exchange, an issue crucial for the study of medieval Jewish art. It aims to propose a more precise definition of Jewish pictorial art than that of a minority operating within different majority cultures by discussing different theoretical concepts. The paper presents, on the one hand, historical-anthropological models of interpretation, and theoretical formulations derived from literary studies on the other. These concepts are examined in several art-historical test cases from the field of Jewish art in which the issue of cultural exchange is particularly crucial. Conclusions drawn from these test cases may shed light on the applicability of such models in the context of visual culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper makes a review of the decisions that the Spanish Constitutional Court has taken in its judgement 31/2010 regarding the rules about the judiciary in the Catalonia Act of 2006. After a short reference to the situation before this judgement, the paper analyzes the different points of it, from the language problems to the proposed Justice Council of Catalonia, looking also at the questions about the public prosecutor, the Superior Court, etc. The conclusion is that the judgement is a complete revision of the rules of the Catalonia Act in these matters, a revision that, through the interpretation of some norms, and the annulment of others, proceeds to defuse the value of that rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explain the historic importance to Catalan nationalism of the nineteenth-century poet and priest, Jacint Verdaguer. In order to do so, rather than focus on his contribution - and that of the wider cultural revival, the Renaixenca - to the development of the Catalan language as the basis for national political mobilization, this paper argues that we cannot fully understand Verdaguer's importance without reference to his role in constructing a geographical narrative linking nation and territory. At the same time, given that national meanings are always contested, the paper proposes a dialectical approach to nationalism that situates the work of writers within the context of power struggles between social groups. Consequently, Veradguer's centrality to Catalan nationalism is ultimately explained by his role in producing a geographical narrative capable of attracting important sectors of rural Catalonia to the hegemonic project of the industrial bourgeoisie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study based on the analysis of processes of socialization in a group of descendents of migrant families from Senegal with residence in Cataluña, Spain. I describe the patterns of socialization in order to establish a frame of reference to understand their ways of life and the impact of the migratory process in the society of destination. The paper is focused on the family relationships, in their particularities as socio-cultural group and in the aspects of their migratory processes. It is underlined the subjective dimension that implicates the recovery, by means of the ethnography, the socialization processes of the descendents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Physical hydronomics (PH) is the specific application of thermodynamics that physically characterizes the governance of water bodies, i.e., the Water Framework Directive (WFD) for European Union citizens. In this paper, calculation procedures for the exergy analysis of river basins are developed within the WFD guidelines and a case study is developed. Therefore, it serves as an example for the feasible application of PH in the environmental cost assessment of water bodies, accordingly to the principle of recovery of the costs related to water services in accordance with the polluter pays principle, one of the milestones of the WFD. The Foix River watershed, a small river located at the Inland Basins of Catalonia (IBC), has been analyzed. Main results, difficulties, and constraints encountered are shown in the paper. Following WFD''s quantity and quality objectives previously defined, water costs are calculated and the equivalence between the exergy loss due to water users and the exergy variation along the river are also analyzed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, I will deal with some elements related to the analysis of theories of democracies and federalism in plurinational contexts. The paper highlights some flaws and shortcomings of traditional liberal democracies in these contexts and the challenge of establishing effective practices of a politics of recognition and constitutional accommodation of internal national pluralism (Section 1). Secondly, the paper analyses the case of Catalonia after the recent reform of its Statute of Autonomy (Constitutional Law) in 2006 and its relationship with the development of the Spanish Estado de las Autonomías. The Catalan case reveals some practical flaws and important difficulties in the political recognition and accommodation of internal national pluralism according to traditional decentralising patterns (Section 2). Finally, the article makes a number of concluding remarks relating the previously highlighted elements of the theory of democracy and federalism to the analysis of the Catalan case [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like other migrant groups in Catalonia, Moroccans can solicit financial and technical assistance to help better conditions in their localities of origin within the framework of co-development policies. This policy environment reflects international trends of integrating migration and development, including a strengthening of the participatory role of the migrants themselves. Drawing on a qualitative study of Moroccan migrant transnationalism in Catalonia, I analyse the interplay between Catalan actors' support for migrant civic transnationalism and the perception of and participation in projects of co-development among Moroccan migrants. One of the key aims is to explore to what extent timing, that is, the combination of recent patterns of Moroccan migration and the relatively intense debate on migration and development, influences the balance between top-down implementation of the migration development agenda and bottom-up initiatives from the Moroccan migrants. The paper shows how participation in co-development projects varies among Moroccan associations and outlines the main explanations for both involvement and non-involvement. Thus, the paper engages with the growing literature on the relationship of migrants' transnational practices with local and transnational power hierarchies, highlighting the role of receiving-country political actors, policy discourses and initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The main interest of the methodology for the investigation of wastewater reclamation and reuse systems which is proposed in this paper is that all costs and benefits (social and private) are considered in the economic and technological analysis. This general concern allows an improvement in the design of investment decisions. Traditionally, an economic-financial analysis of wastewater reclamation and reuse systems focuses exclusively on the study of costs and private benefits. The methodology that is presented in this paper takes into account not only the private impacts but also the project spillovers which could have relevance on the project. In this research, the use value of the reclaimed water in the Natural Wildlife Park of Aiguamolls de l’Empordà is estimated. The travel cost technique is applied to estimate the external value of the Park. According to the final results, the price of the reclaimed water in the Park should have to be between 0.75 €/m3 (without opportunity cost) and 1.20 €/m3 (with opportunity cost). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper collects a set of methodological aspects taken from the doctoral research of the author, which focuses on the construction of social identity in immigrant children at the Catalan coastal region of El Maresme (Spain). The author intends to contribute to the overcoming of methodological restrictions when conducting participant observation among children, which is strongly conditioned by an adult-centric power structure that mediates child-adult relationships in our culture, and considers children as unfinished, future-oriented versions of adults, or adults-in-the-making. Drawing on the author's own experiences this paper discusses some strategic practices that became extremely useful for building the rapport necessary to access these children's cultures and to understand children as an active and creative social group developing their own, and unique, systems of relations and meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present paper deals with plants used in veterinary medicine in Montseny. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the Montseny massif, which is situated in north-east Catalonia (Iberian Peninsula), covers 826km2 and has a population of 80,000. The information was obtained through 120 ethnobotanical interviews to 180 informants. Out of 584 species reported, 351 are claimed to be used in the health field (human and veterinary medicine), 280 in human and animal food and 236 have another kind of popular use. Medicinal species represent around 16.5% of Montseny''s vascular flora. In a previous paper we addressed plant use in human medicine, and the present paper deals with veterinarian uses. As a reflection of the importance of rural life in the region, at least until recent times, a substantial number of medicinal plants (89 species, representing 6% of the flora of the territory and 6.4% of all medicinal use-reports in the region) is used in veterinary medicine. These remedies are mostly for cows, calves, sheep, pigs and horses, and secondarily, to poultry, rabbits and dogs. The main ailments treated are postnatal problems, intestinal troubles, wounds and dermatological problems. In many cases, the use of these remedies in veterinary medicine is fully consistent with their use in human medicine. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In studies concerned with sustainability the underlying models are, in most cases, not strictly numerical since they depend on many conditions that can be regarded as qualitative. In this paper, a model to evaluate citizens' satisfaction learnt from data collected from a survey is presented. The model, which involves the use of RBF neural networks, will provide local councillors with useful information, enabling them to evaluate trends and improve strategies focused on enhancing sustainability. In this paper a contribution describing a practical experience with a model-based system applied to a study commissioned by the town council of Vilanova i la Geltrú (Catalonia, Spain) is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to show a climatology of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, on the basis of meteorological radar observations. Special attention was paid to those cases that have produced heavy rainfalls during the period 1996–2000. Identification of the MCS was undertaken using two procedures. Firstly, the precipitation structures at the lowest level were recognised by means of a 2D algorithm that distinguishes between convective and non-convective contribution. Secondly, the convective cells were identified using a 3D procedure quite similar to the SCIT (Storm Cell Identification and Tracking) algorithm that looks for the reflectivity cores in each radar volume. Finally, the convective cells (3D) were associated with the 2D structures (convective rainfall areas), in order to characterize the complete MCS. Once this methodology was presented the paper offers a proposal for classifying the precipitation systems, and particularly the MCS. 57 MCS structures were classified: 49% of them were identified as linearly well-organised systems, called TS (39%), LS (18%) and NS (43%). In addition to the classification, the following items were analysed for each MCS found: duration, season, time of day, area affected and direction of movement, and main radar parameters related with convection. The average features of those MCS show an area of about 25000 km2, Z max values of 47 dBz, an echotop of 12 km, the maximum frequency at 12 UTC and early afternoon and a displacement towards E-NE. The study was completed by analysing the field at surface, the presence of a mesoscale low near the system and the quasi-stationary features of three cases related with heavy rainfalls. Maximum rainfall (more then 200 mm in 6 h) was related with the presence of a cyclone in combination with the production of a convective train effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]