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The purpose of this study is to better understand the processes and procedures adopted by micro-influencers to create 'instagrammable' content. It is based on 17 in-depth interviews with foodie micro-influencers based in London and Barcelona. Interview data was complemented with participant observation in restaurants or cafes. This paper makes three original contributions. Firstly, the study expands the understanding of the concept of 'instagrammability' by approaching it from the perspective of influencers creating content to satisfy and/or grow an audience. Secondly, it illustrates how two dominant factors drive influencers' content creation process: the self/audience focus content branding orientation. The 'audience-focus' content development process varied drastically, with some influencers being very conscious of responding to their audiences' needs whereas others maintained first and foremost a very strong 'self-focus'. However, even for the influencers who were the most responsive to their audiences' perceived wishes, a sense of 'self-focus' was maintained as an anchor point in all developed content, often linked to a passion for a certain type of food. Thirdly, this paper maps and describes the behind-the-scenes content creation process adopted by micro-influencers, including four stages (1) Content Planning, (2) Media Gathering, (3) Editing, and (4) Publishing, which was followed by an engagement phase. This study offers a timely contribution to better comprehend the content creation cycle adopted by micro-influencers by using foodie influencers as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalisation has great potential to reduce costs, improve access and enhance user experience. However, it could also increase inequality, with some people struggling to access and use digital services. It is important to understand who is likely to be excluded in this way and why. This can help to identify groups at particular risk of digital exclusion, inform efforts to overcome the barriers, and develop more inclusive digital services. This paper introduces a set of five linked datasets examining a range of user factors affecting the use of digital services. The datasets focus on the use of digital mobility services, but the data is useful in understanding the use of other digital services as well. The user factors considered include technology access, use and competence and attitudes towards digital technology. The datasets were the results of surveys in five European regions and countries (Germany, Italy, Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Flanders and the Netherlands). Samples were taken of the adult (age 16+) population with a total of 3,454 participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast and plural production of the woman architect, musician, activist, occasional educator and tireless researcher Anna Bofill Levi (Barcelona, 1944) is characterized by certain features that make its author a unique personality, although one hardly known and recognized in the Spanish and international circles that are the custodians of prestige in architecture. She has achieved most public recognition as a composer, the field in which she has been most productive over time and developed the furthest. Her music is characterized by the number of references, especially contemporary, she includes, the wide diversity of countries where it has been performed, and the range of people to whom she has dedicated her works, all these aspects testifying to her cosmopolitan and libertarian spirit and her commitment to equality. Her incessant writing, with all the reading it entails, has also left us with a large body of written work, extending over a number of fields, including most notably her reflections on the influence of the gender-based perspective on urban planning. A factor also reflected in her architecture, for example, in the implementation of participatory processes in her project designs. She joined the Taller de Arquitectura from the time she began her studies at the School of Architecture in Barcelona in 1964--she graduated in 1972--, and then commenced her independent career in 1981, although her first solo works date from 1977. Her work at the head of her office for almost 20 years is evidence of a tireless capacity for work and an unwavering commitment to people's welfare. This paper analyses Anna Bofill's contributions to feminist thinking through her work as an architect. Also, it addresses the study of a cultured person, a woman with great sensitivity and a strong political and personal commitment who has suffered discrimination and who hasmade rigor and determination themeans to achieve her non-negotiable freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban fabric of European cities is subject to significant pressures from human activity and climate change. The devastating effects of climate change on urban environments threaten the quality of life of citizens and ecosystems. In particular, historic and dense-tissue cities face challenges in adapting their established urban fabric devoid of green areas. The lack of green spaces for social gatherings becomes a critical issue in addressing the climate and environmental crisis. Dense cities such as Barcelona and Copenhagen are promptly responding to the climate emergency through adaptation plans. This essay identifies the 19th-century neighbourhood of San Salvario in Turin, as a case study to develop a morphological analysis aimed at proposing nature-based strategies to improve the adaptation potential and resilience. The design elements identified in the two best practices cities inspire hypothesizing replicable architectural solutions in dense urban contexts such as the study area under consideration. Finally, the paper addresses the limitations arising from the lack of holistic strategic planning, which in the case of Turin is based on fragmented interventions disconnected from the existing ecological network rather than on a long-term plan. The paper also reflects on the need to include additional assessments of ecosystem services, taking into account their economic valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future projections indicate a global increase in heat waves, especially in urban areas due to climate change and the heat island effect, leading to adverse human, economic, and environmental outcomes. Cities worldwide respond by integrating climate mitigation and adaptation measures. While long-term strategies dominate research, this paper explores the increasing interest in short-term solutions, examining the Barcelona Climate Shelter Network. Investigating climate shelter initiatives, it highlights the use of public or private spaces for respite during extreme heat. This model offers insights for other European cities facing escalating heat waves, encouraging reflections on reshaping public services amidst climate crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the intricate dynamics of urban mobility, a pivotal aspect for policymakers, businesses, and communities alike. By deciphering patterns of movement within a city, stakeholders can craft targeted interventions to mitigate traffic congestion peaks, optimizing both resource allocation and individual travel routes. Focused on Barcelona, Spain, this paper draws on data sourced from the city council's open data service. Through a blend of exploratory analysis, visualization techniques, and modeling methodologies—including time series analysis and the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm—the research endeavors to forecast traffic conditions. Additionally, a study of variable importance is carried out, and Shapley Additive Explanations are applied to enhance the interpretability of model outputs. Findings underscore the limitations of traditional forecasting methods in capturing the nuanced spatial and temporal dependencies present in traffic flows, particularly over medium- to long-term horizons. However, the XGBoost model demonstrates robust performance, with the area under ROC curves consistently exceeding 80%, indicating its efficacy in handling non-linear traffic data variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global rise in urban energy demand poses severe environmental and economic health challenges. We need adaptive policies in urban planning to reduce the need for urban energy. This has become a prominent agenda in urban planning, encompassing social (education and innovation in consumption), economic (real pricing), and physical (urban morphology) aspects. This research aims to investigate the influential role of urban form, particularly the physical environment, on energy performance. The methodological approach is centered on conducting analytical-comparative research to examine how urban form influences theoretical energy requirements. Yazd City is selected as a case study because of its distinctive features and traditional approaches to urban sustainability, which have been largely overlooked in previous energy consumption investigations. In a broader comparative context, five tissue types (morphological units) have been selected from Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, and Venice and used as the analytical basis of the study. The research categorizes urban forms into three levels: macro (fabric), medium (block), and micro (building patterns). Heating, cooling, and total energy consumption were computed at each level. The findings indicate that, at the macroscale, the Barcelona fabric offers the highest potential for adaptation in the hot, dry climate of Yazd City. Moreover, the paper analyzes the most recurring morphological indices in the tissues and proposes guidelines for new developments tailored to Yazd City's unique climatic conditions. By focusing on urban form's impact on energy performance, this research contributes to the broader understanding of sustainable urban planning. It offers valuable insights for energy-sensitive urban development in other contexts facing similar climate challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The football rivalry between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona is one of the most popular at club level globally. In Spain, where it is known as El Clásico (the Classic), it has an unrivalled status in the sports media industry. Its significance relies in part to the historical tension between Catalonia, the region of which Barcelona is the main centre, and Madrid, the capital of Spain. The exaltation of confrontation and partisanship is the central feature of highly popular radio programmes devoted to El Clásico. This study aimed to observe how the media discourse articulated by these programmes was affected by the fact that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, matches were played in empty venues. Through the comparisons of broadcasts of two games, one from 2017 and from 2020, the paper shows that the sensationalistic style is toned down, and a less polarised and partisan sports journalism is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, rental housing has emerged as a new field of financialization, highlighting the importance of rent to understanding contemporary urban dynamics. Despite rental markets expressing juridical relations, empirical research on the articulations between law and rent is absent in the existing literature. In light of critical legal approaches, the paper addresses this gap through an ethnographic exploration of conflictual residential rent relations in Barcelona. The paper argues that contracts are not only legal objects crucial for the existence and articulation of rent, but their constant opening and closing, enabled by property law, result in both judicial and invisible evictions, which increase tenant turnover, thus securing incremental rental-based streams. The contract disobedience strategy enacted by the tenant movement in Barcelona has exposed how contracts are tools of domination and poses a critique of the political and legal doctrine of the 'freedom of contract'. This mobilisation has simultaneously articulated a political demand for implementing rent controls, which are placed in a broader, gradually emerging legal countermovement to protect habitation that finds its epitome in parliamentary debates and legislative processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a statistical study of cirrus geometrical and optical properties based on 4 years of continuous ground-based lidar measurements with the Barcelona (Spain) Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) is analysed. First, a review of the literature on the two-way transmittance method is presented. This method is a well-known lidar inversion method used to retrieve the optical properties of an aerosol–cloud layer between two molecular (i.e. aerosol and cloud-free) regions below and above, without the need to make any a priori assumptions about their optical and/or microphysical properties. Second, a simple mathematical expression of the two-way transmittance method is proposed for both ground-based and spaceborne lidar systems. This approach of the method allows the retrieval of the cloud optical depth, the cloud column lidar ratio and the vertical profile of the cloud backscatter coefficient. The method is illustrated for a cirrus cloud using measurements from the ground-based MPL and from the spaceborne Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Third, the database is then filtered with a cirrus identification criterion based on (and compared to) the literature using only lidar and radiosonde data. During the period from November 2018 to September 2022, 367 high-altitude cirrus clouds were identified at 00:00 and 12:00 UTC, of which 203 were successfully inverted with the two-way transmittance method. The statistical results of these 203 high-altitude cirrus clouds show that the cloud thickness is 1.8 ± 1.1 km, the mid-cloud temperature is - 51 ± 8 ∘ C and the linear cloud depolarization ratio is 0.32 ± 0.13. The application of the transmittance method yields an average cloud optical depth (COD) of 0.36 ± 0.45 and a mean effective column lidar ratio of 30 ± 19 sr. Statistical results of the errors associated with the two-way transmittance method retrievals are also provided. The highest occurrence of cirrus is observed in spring and the majority of cirrus clouds (48 %) are visible (0.03 < COD < 0.3), followed by opaque (COD > 0.3) with a percentage of 38 %. Together with results from other sites, possible latitudinal dependencies have been analysed together with correlations between cirrus cloud properties. For example, we noted that in Barcelona the COD correlates positively with the cloud base temperature, effective column lidar ratio and linear cloud depolarization ratio and negatively with the cloud base height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary societies are increasingly multireligious, multiethnic, and multicultural, but to what extent are they ready for coexistence? This paper evaluates the competencies for intercultural and interreligious dialogue in two very different contexts: Barcelona and Melilla, two cities with great ethnic and cultural diversity, in which it is easy to have contact with people of different cultures and religions. To this end, we worked with a total of 1353 adolescents and young people, and four scales were used to evaluate intercultural and interreligious sensitivity, conflict management skills, and prejudices towards unaccompanied migrant minors. The findings suggest that in neither of these two contexts do adolescents and young people form relationships with these minors, despite accepting religious diversity and being educated at school in topics relating to coexistence and spirituality. In fact, participants showed a high level of prejudice towards this population. Implementation of more effective intervention programs in both cities is therefore recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates how English language teaching and learning spaces become a locus for a "pedagogy of personality": spaces where ideal forms of personhood can be transmitted, taught and learned. We draw on ethnographic accounts of moments produced in a municipal English language teaching programme in Rionegro, Colombia, and in the English language class of an elite international school near Barcelona, in Catalonia. We explore discourses mobilised by teachers, students, and school administrators that glorify personality traits that should enable students to become "good community members", "good citizens" and to reflect on the ways in which language learning spaces are imagined to have an effect on learners' personalities. We claim that it is not necessarily the English competence acquired in these spaces, or the act of speaking English itself, which is imagined as automatically triggering the enactment of 'better' forms of personality. Rather, we believe that our ethnographic data point to the fact that language curricula provide the space to construct, spread and normalise moral values which are associated to idealised forms of subjectivity, and desired forms of being. The discourses circulated through landscapes and classroom interactions show how the mere act of being in an English language learning space is expected to raise students' awareness of the moral duty to become better, more responsible individuals. We make a key contribution to critical sociolinguistic research by placing a focus on how "good personality" is informed by the pedagogic trajectories of each space, beyond neoliberal projects of self. Moralising catholic discourses, values and ideologies, and broader humanist educational discourses inform ideas about personality and personality development in these spaces. Thus, we call for a slower sociolinguistics, that takes pause before reaching for the explanatory power of neoliberalism and makes room for the complex, historically sedimented logics of our research sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy retrofits have, so far, been studied from the perspective of economic benefits that undertaking energy retrofit brings. They have also been of interest in the pursuit of reducing carbon emissions. However, few have studied the perception of health co-benefits of energy retrofits. Therefore, this paper seeks to shed light on how the residents' perception of their health affects their decision to undertake an energetic retrofit. The focus of this article is to determine how residents perceive their health and their willingness to undertake energy retrofits to improve their health in the municipality of Barcelona. The methods used were in-depth interviews with experts and face-to-face and surveys conducted online. The results were analysed using descriptive, segmental, and unconditional logistic regression. We also analysed if awareness of the health co-benefits of retrofits corresponded with the respondent's housing conditions, socio-demographics, and willingness to energy retrofit their homes. A total of 127 participants were included, of which 6.3% listed health co-benefit improvements as an influencing factor in undertaking an energy retrofit. The survey findings show that the less educated households are less aware of the health co-benefits of energy retrofits. These findings reveal the need to re-evaluate the current energy and housing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barcelona is championed as the exemplary radical smart city, and yet scholarly understandings are typically limited to its theoretical approach and policy rhetoric. This paper, however, interrogates the extent to which Smart Barcelona has been implemented. It deploys a novel method of thematically analyzing 51 public talks by Barcelona’s first Chief Technology Officer, cross-examined with policy documents – to unpack the smart agenda. This agenda is then contrasted with insights into the ‘actual smart city’ implementation via interviews with 10 key informants. Findings reveal a lackluster progress including limited citizen input, ongoing reliance on ‘Big Tech’, and missing integration capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city of Barcelona has become a nodal point of the transnational social space of the Pakistani diaspora. Despite being quite invisible, Pakistanis stand out for their entrepreneurial activities, especially in the food and telecommunication sectors. This paper aims to shed light on the transnational dimension of Pakistani ethnic businesses of Barcelona through the lens of 'transnational mixed embeddedness' and a multi-level approach that combines analytical levels (macro, meso and micro) and territorial levels (local/national and transnational). This is within the theoretical debate around globalization from below, immigrant entrepreneurship and transnational entrepreneurship, and by using a mixed-methods design. The results show how migrant entrepreneurs can be placed in a 'continuum of transnational embeddedness', depending on the interrelation of agency and micro-sociological processes entailing in-group differences with meso-market and macro-structural factors from a dynamic point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the social pandemic brought to the foreground the crisis of social reproduction afflicting our societies. However, this new visibility of the importance of care work and the emergence of mutual support networks was not a sufficient condition for the politicization of the reproductive sphere to take place, contrary to what happened during the 2008 crisis. This paper aims to comprehend the reasons why such politicization did not occur by means of a case-study carried out with four focus-groups made up of representatives of mutual support networks established in Barcelona to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable groups of the population. The achieved results show the limits of social reproduction theory to explain politicization theories, as it does not sufficiently acknowledge the state's agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current industrial food system is failing in all aspects of sustainability. Alternative Food Initiatives (AFIs) and the industrial green food market (iGFM) both claim that they are building sustainable food models. This study looks into common strengths and challenges of AFIs in relation to iGFM. The research conducted a comparative case study of AFIs in the city of Sant Cugat del Vallès in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain) through a combination of qualitative methods. The results show that strengths reside in their socially embedding characteristics with decommodification and commoning aspects, whereas the biggest challenge for AFIs is to manage being competitive while keeping their principles. The paper concludes that AFIs contribute more to building sustainable food models than the iGFM, as the latter only partially green the system for profit. For AFI models to prevail, public sector support to shift the power imbalance of the market is significant. Key Policy Highlights: Alternative food initiatives (AFIs) are socially embedding sustainable food models. AFIs need help to compete within the current industrial green food market. The city government can play a counterbalancing role in favour of AFIs. Examples of city government measures include the cession of public space or providing farmland to AFIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barcelona is in an area of low- to medium-seismicity and its earthquake vulnerability and risk has been assessed in different studies over the last 20 years. Most of these works have developed vulnerability models for the representative building classes of the city, trying to capture their main characteristics, and have been mostly represented through fragility curves. However, due to the lack of data for historical earthquake losses in the city, it has not been possible to validate, nor calibrate, any of these vulnerability models. In the absence of earthquake loss data, the objective of this paper is to compare the earthquake risk results of Barcelona, using common hazard and exposure datasets and different sets of vulnerability functions from previous studies to see how they rank compared with other locations with similar studies but more complete historical loss data. The results show large differences between the analysed vulnerability datasets, with some results that in our view tend to overestimate earthquake risk in Barcelona, and also allow identifying critical aspects that require future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the concept of affordable housing and urban planning instruments that incentivize its development, especially in city centers. Considering the shortage of affordable housing in Zagreb, the research aims to identify contemporary urban planning practices that focus on the social function of housing and the role that local urban and housing policies have in ensuring access to it. By comparing the strategic documents for the housing development of the cities of Lyon and Barcelona and models of their implementation in the local urban plans for the areas of city centers and contact brownfield areas, the provisions incentivizing the development of the affordable housing (right of pre-emption, category of subsidized housing, inclusionary zoning, density bonus, and protection of residential use) are singled out. In the context of urban renewal of the historic center of Zagreb and of brownfield redevelopment in the contact zone of the city center, inclusion of the aforementioned provisions in local urban plans is examined, demonstrating the potential that such instrument has for the development of affordable housing in the city center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses an approach to therapeutic work (Adaptive Mentalization-Based Integrative Treatment) that is directed toward young people who are often well known to multiple helping services; those whose needs are multiple and intersectional, and for whom efforts to intervene effectively are complicated by high levels of risk and low levels of what is conventionally expected in the form of "help-seeking." The first section offers an introduction to AMBIT framed as a series of reflections emphasizing the social, cultural, and networked roots of mentalizing and the nature and demands of adaptation in the realities of working in complex outreach settings. The second section gives an example of one place-based iteration, the Equipo Clínico de Intervención a Domicilio (ECID) based in Barcelona and includes a summary of a recent outcome evaluation from these teams that work with excluded youth who have previously actively avoided invitations to use mainstream mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narratives on innovation in education are spreading fast and both national and local educational administrations have been recently promoting innovation policies and programmes in many different European contexts. Academic literature analysing the potential benefits of innovation in education has expanded accordingly, with some international organizations increasingly commissioning research aiming to study the impacts of educational innovation, especially on learning outcomes. Interestingly, less attention has been given to analysing how these policies and programmes are translated into different practices at the school level. Drawing on a policy enactment framework, this paper aims to analyse the ways in which schools interpret top-down policy text and prescription on innovation and enact innovation in education. To do so, we focus on the case of Xarxes per al Canvi (XC), an educational innovation programme launched by the educational administration of the city of Barcelona in 2017 that aims to create school networks in order to stimulate knowledge sharing and innovation. Findings show how schools make sense of the innovation policy diversely. Policy enactment outcomes appear to be context-sensitive, with schools enacting its precepts in different ways, especially to serve their needs in increasingly competitive local education markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an urbanized world, the challenges posed by climate change need to be met through innovative planning for cities and regions. Urban resilience demands that cities adopt new models centered on carbon neutrality, ecosystem services and biodiversity enhancement, circularity, and social inclusion. In light of the multiple interdependencies of metropolitan systems and the natural and territorial potentialities present on their fringes, this paper discusses the metropolitan fringes as strategic for urban resilience and sustainable transitions. By combining a mixed-method analysis of adaptation and urban plans with semi-structured interviews performed with key technicians, the analysis is focused on an inter-municipal fringe zone within the Barcelona Metropolitan Area - the Besòs territory. Aiming to contribute to the discussions related to Territorial innovation for cities and regions, the paper offers a multi-scale perspective and illustrates innovative urban transformation strategies across scales. The results highlight that governance and multiple planning and participation instances together with technical and financial support are essential for consensus building in an incremental process. Furthermore, the planning strategies of the case study sought to integrate and enhance the green and blue infrastructures and transform consolidated urban areas with a focus on energy transition, sustainable mobility, circularity, and social inclusion. In conclusion, it is argued that resilience has a multi-scalar perspective within the metropolitan context and should be integrated with planning policies at different scales from a coordinated vision. Although adaptation and urban projects have a critical local element, a broader and more strategic vision is necessary, especially in metropolitan fringe areas. • Although adaptation and resilience have an essential local element, a broader and more strategic vision is necessary. • Metropolitan planning and governance towards urban resilience must have a multi-scalar perspective. • Metropolitan fringes are key to urban resilience and sustainable transitions due to their environmental and urban attributes. • A coordinated metropolitan vision with technical and financial support is vital for sustainable urban transitions in fringe areas. • The intermediate scale is critical since it represents a bridge between supra-municipal instances and municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas are increasingly adopting the tool of urban food policies (UFPs) to address food-related challenges, especially for a sustainable transition of their food systems (FS). Indeed, FS were assessed to have a great environmental impact, and cities are recognized as privileged actors to address this challenge. More recently, the problem of justice in such transition was raised. One dimension of vulnerability proven to crosscut all FS stages, and to increase exposure to climate change effects, is gender. However, literature on just food transition and UFPs does not seem to always consider this dimension of potential vulnerability. This paper firstly elaborates on the concept of "just food transition" (JFT), then presents relevant literature on gender differences in FS to argue that interventions aimed at JFT should apply gender mainstreaming. Later, it analyzes twenty relevant cases of UFPs to assess whether they consider gender differences, with the aim of demonstrating that, although theory seems to prove its relevance, a gender mainstreaming approach is still widely lacking from policy practice and rather some policies risk to reinforce existing gender stereotypes related to the FS. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further research. • Gender differences have been proven to exist throughout all stages of the food system. • Just food transition literature tends to overlook implications of gender differences. • A gender mainstreaming approach is widely lacking from urban food policies. • The urban food policies of Zaragoza and Barcelona are innovative in their attention to gender differences in urban matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the performance of different Machine Learning and Deep Learning approaches is evaluated in problems related to green mobility in big cities. Specifically, the forecasting of bike sharing demand in Madrid and Barcelona (Spain) is approached, for different prediction time-horizons, and also a problem of cable car demand forecasting in Madrid city. An important number of predictive variables are considered, which are grouped into four different sets (categorical/calendrical, persistence-based, meteorological and, as a novelty of the paper, information about analogue past instances), whose relevance is studied for all cases. A feature selection mechanism is also incorporated in order to improve the prediction accuracy of the proposed algorithms. A total of 12 different multivariate regression techniques are implemented, covering from Machine Learning methods to time-series Deep Learning approaches. Excellent results in all the prediction problems approached are reported. Finally, the consequences of obtaining accurate prediction in these three problem of green mobility in big cities are discussed. In addition, it is studied how the results could be exported to other similar cases in more general urban mobility studies. Novelties of the work include: (1) Addressing the forecast problem of passenger flow on a cable car using ML and DL multivariate techniques; (2) using the demand of analogous past instances as an additional feature to solve the demand prediction problems; and (3) the extraction of global conclusions about feature relevance when addressing a demand forecasting problem in green mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution in urban areas poses a significant and pressing challenge for modern society. Unfortunately, the existing network of pollution detectors in many cities is limited in scope and fails to adequately cover the entire geographical area. Consequently, the implementation of spatial prediction algorithms becomes essential to generate high-resolution data. In this paper, we introduce two significant contributions: 1) We formalize the air pollution prediction problem as a Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) estimate within the framework of a Markov Random Field and 2) we propose a message-passing algorithm, which stands out as an efficient solution that surpasses the current state of the art. The experimental procedure has been carried out using the case study of the city of Barcelona, based on a dataset extracted from the BCN Open Data portal. [Display omitted] • Spatial prediction of air quality is tackled with a novel formalization and method. • The use of a Message Passing style algorithm is proposed. • The model is trained with data specific to the city of Barcelona. • The presented method outperforms other existing methods for the given problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• M2MHub tool uses MCDA and GIS to support planning of shared mobility hubs. • Criteria are selected considering hubs as places for seamless multimodal transfers. • Weights of location criteria and sub-criteria in urban areas are calculated by AHP. • The model is applied to Barcelona to create heat maps of desirable locations. • The tool could help administrations and operators to achieve sustainable mobility. In the move towards sustainable urban mobility through seamless intermodality, European cities are faced with the possibility of implementing shared mobility systems. They constitute an opportunity to create new urban hubs, considered as nodes of intermodality and places of urban intensity. In order to effectively plan the future locations of shared mobility hubs, this paper outlines the methodological framework that sustains the design of a new decision-support tool, the so-called Mcda2MobilityHub (M2MHub) , 1 1 Link to the M2MHub tool, which is available as an open plugin for QGIS: https://github.com/natrouk/Mcda2MobilityHub-desicion-support-tool%5fQGIS-plugin. using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). For this purpose, the analysis of existing literature and interviews with local authorities and transport operators, led to the identification of six main location criteria (mobility, compactness, diversity of uses, profile of potential users, spatial configuration and environment). The criteria weights were calculated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the framework was applied to the case study of the city of Barcelona. The results obtained are presented in the form of heat maps, highlighting the flexibility of the decision-support tool to transform open data into appropriate indicators and detailed maps. This output can be used to support future policies for planning shared mobility hubs as places for convenient multimodal transfers, which also enable social activities and improve the quality of life in European cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current urban and transport planning practices have significant negative health, environmental, social and economic impacts in most cities. New urban development models and policies are needed to reduce these negative impacts. The Superblock model is one such innovative urban model that can significantly reduce these negative impacts through reshaping public spaces into more diverse uses such as increase in green space, infrastructure supporting social contacts and physical activity, and through prioritization of active mobility and public transport, thereby reducing air pollution, noise and urban heat island effects. This paper reviews key aspects of the Superblock model, its implementation and initial evaluations in Barcelona and the potential international uptake of the model in Europe and globally, focusing on environmental, climate, lifestyle, liveability and health aspects. We used a narrative meta-review approach and PubMed and Google scholar databases were searched using specific terms. The implementation of the Super block model in Barcelona is slow, but with initial improvement in, for example, environmental, lifestyle, liveability and health indicators, although not so consistently. When applied on a large scale, the implementation of the Superblock model is not only likely to result in better environmental conditions, health and wellbeing, but can also contribute to the fight against the climate crisis. There is a need for further expansion of the program and further evaluation of its impacts and answers to related concerns, such as environmental equity and gentrification, traffic and related environmental exposure displacement. The implementation of the Superblock model gained a growing international reputation and variations of it are being planned or implemented in cities worldwide. Initial modelling exercises showed that it could be implemented in large parts of many cities. The Superblock model is an innovative urban model that addresses environmental, climate, liveability and health concerns in cities. Adapted versions of the Barcelona Superblock model are being implemented in cities around Europe and further implementation, monitoring and evaluation are encouraged. The Superblock model can be considered an important public health intervention that will reduce mortality and morbidity and generate cost savings for health and other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, the most populated Spanish cities have experienced significant spatial, social, and economic changes. The new urban economies have played an essential role in the acceleration of such transformations, entailing a range of both positive and negative impacts at the spatial, social, economic, and environmental levels. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of how the advancement of the globalization and deindustrialization processes has encouraged social polarization in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, as well as a significant increase in intra-urban socioeconomic residential segregation. The article concludes by arguing that the increase in levels of social inequality and residential segregation reflects the trend towards polarized urban models, which reproduce in urban space the differences observed in the social structure. • Large Spanish cities have experienced significant changes due to globalization and deindustrialization processes. • The advancement of structural processes has led the emergence of a polarized occupational that tends towards greater wage inequality. • Social inequality has become a structural phenomenon in Spanish global cities • Residential segregation has increased due to the gentrification and touristification of urban centres and the suburbanization of poverty. • This dynamic indicates the emergence of polarized urban spaces, which reproduce in the territory the differences observed in the social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to address the challenge of sustainability in Catholic schools quantitatively, even more so knowing that there are few systematized and quantitatively elaborated approaches that help to determine their sustainability dimensions. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the structural relationships of organizational sustainability in primary and secondary religious schools in Latin America based on the substantive functions of the school, such as care, upbringing and education from an organizational approach. Design/methodology/approach: Deductive reasoning was used. In the preliminary phase, data were extracted from 420 educational leaders of primary and secondary schools in Latin America from the Lasallian Network, leading a school population of 200,500 students and impacting 166 schools; these previous results were again contrasted with the forthcoming literature with research from the Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain, to achieve the sustainability framework, which has an endogenous variable called the school organizational sustainability framework. Findings: The results reveal four dimensions of the first-order structural model: management, association, communication, well-being and curriculum, And eight second-order dimensions: governance, communication, resources, secular association, secular partnership, health, social commitment, and campus operation. The investigation results show that secular association and well-being are two dimensions that are constituted as the main elements of a sustainability framework for this type of organization. Research limitations/implications: The Catholic school has specific dimensions that need to be cared for with special attention, such as association, which comes from the laity and comes from the experience of the religious. In addition to this vital dimension, well-being, constituted as care for the people of the community, as care for all, is connatural to the religious school. Still, it is constituted by an edge that completes it, and that is the concern for the well-being of those outside regarding social justice. A limitation in the pretension of totality is that the study is conducted in a small portion of Catholic schools in Latin America. Practical implications: A practical impact in the schools investigated is to present this sustainability framework as a reference to incorporate these dimensions as a strategy to bet on sustainability. Although the realities and contexts of the Latin American school are very different, some factors can impact low-income schools and schools with more significant financial resources if they are strengthened and worked on with dedication. In addition, this framework can lead to roads and the construction of indicators within the school, which can measure the sustainable commitment of the whole school. Finally, a clear finding of the framework is the need for good governance processes related to leadership and leaders' commitment to school-wide sustainability. Social implications: The present study impacts the depth that the proposal of the global educational pact can reach in the reality of Catholic schools in Latin America. The seriousness with which its leaders take the issue of sustainability from this perspective can contribute to the sustainability of life itself. Originality/value: The originality of this research is that it constitutes the first Sustainability framework in Latin America in Catholic schools from an organizational approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frequent attendance is a common issue for primary care health centres. The phenomenon affects the quality of care, increases doctors' workloads and can lead to burnout.This study presents the results of an educational intervention for primary care physicians, aimed at helping them to decrease the prevalence rate of excessive attendance by patients at their centres. Methods: A training programme was carried out for 11 primary care doctors in Barcelona who had patient lists totalling 20,064 patients. The goal of the training was to provide the participating physicians with techniques to curb frequent attendance. Additionally, the programme sought to offer them strategies to prevent professional burnout and tools to better organize their everyday medical practice. The study used a quasi-experimental design for an evaluation of an educational intervention, featuring a pre-test assessment (before the training programme) and a post-test assessment (after the training programme), as well as comparison with a control group that did not undergo the training. The study assessed the effects of the programme on the rates of frequent attendance of patients served by the participating physicians. These rates were compared with those registered by the patients seen by the control group physicians over the same period. Results: Among the group of physicians who received the training, the mean prevalence of patients who qualified as frequent attenders decreased from 22% prior to the training programme to 8% after completion of the programme. In other words, 14% of patients (2,809) limited the frequency of their visits to primary care physicians after their physicians had completed the training programme. Meanwhile, the study recorded an average decrease of 3.1 visits per year by the patients of the physicians who had undergone the training. Statistically significant differences between this group and the control group were observed. Conclusions: The educational intervention proved effective at helping primary care physicians to decrease their patients' rates of frequent attendance. It also contributes to the impact research of continuing education on doctors and their patients. We need to increase primary care spending from the current 14% to the 25%, to address this problem, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bike-sharing systems have emerged as a significant element of urban mobility, providing an environmentally friendly transportation alternative. With the increasing integration of electric bikes alongside mechanical bikes, it is crucial to illuminate distinct usage patterns and their impact on maintenance. Accordingly, this research aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of mobility dynamics, distinguishing between different mobility modes, and introducing a novel predictive maintenance system tailored for bikes. By utilising a combination of trip information and maintenance data from Barcelona's bike-sharing system, Bicing, this study conducts an extensive analysis of mobility patterns and their relationship to failures of bike components. To accurately predict maintenance needs for essential bike parts, this research delves into various mobility metrics and applies statistical and machine learning survival models, including deep learning models. Due to their complexity, and with the objective of bolstering confidence in the system's predictions, interpretability techniques explain the main predictors of maintenance needs. The analysis reveals marked differences in the usage patterns of mechanical bikes and electric bikes, with a growing user preference for the latter despite their extra costs. These differences in mobility were found to have a considerable impact on the maintenance needs within the bike-sharing system. Moreover, the predictive maintenance models proved effective in forecasting these maintenance needs, capable of operating across an entire bike fleet. Despite challenges such as approximated bike usage metrics and data imbalances, the study successfully showcases the feasibility of an accurate predictive maintenance system capable of improving operational costs, bike availability, and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing interest in accurately evaluating urban soundscapes to reflect citizens' subjective perceptions of acoustic comfort. Various indices have been proposed in the literature to achieve this purpose. However, many of these methods necessitate specialized equipment or extensive data collection. This study introduces an enhanced predictor for dwelling acoustic comfort, utilizing cost-effective data consisting of a 30-s audio clip and location information. The proposed predictor incorporates two rating systems: a binary evaluation and an acoustic comfort index called ACI. The training and evaluation data are obtained from the "Sons al Balcó" citizen science project. To characterize the sound events, gammatone cepstral coefficients are used for automatic sound event detection with a convolutional neural network. To enhance the predictor's performance, this study proposes incorporating objective noise levels from public IoT-based wireless acoustic sensor networks, particularly in densely populated areas like Barcelona. The results indicate that adding noise levels from a public network successfully enhances the accuracy of the acoustic comfort prediction for both rating systems, reaching up to 85% accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) significantly impact air quality and atmospheric chemistry, influencing ozone formation and secondary organic aerosol production. Despite their importance, the uncertainties associated with representing VOCs in atmospheric emission inventories are considerable. This work presents a spatiotemporal assessment and evaluation of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) emissions and concentrations in Spain by combining bottom-up emissions, air quality modelling techniques, and ground-based observations. The emissions produced by High-Elective Resolution Modelling Emission System (HERMESv3) were used as input to the Multiscale Online Nonhydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry (MONARCH) chemical transport model to simulate surface concentrations across Spain. Comparing modelled and observed levels revealed uncertainty in the anthropogenic emissions, which were further explored through sensitivity tests. The largest levels of observed benzene and xylene were found in industrial sites near coke ovens, refineries, and car manufacturing facilities, where the modelling results show large underestimations. Official emissions reported for these facilities were replaced by alternative estimates, resulting in varied improvements in the model's performance across different stations. However, uncertainties associated with industrial emission processes persist, emphasising the need for further refinement. For toluene, consistent overestimations in background stations were mainly related to uncertainties in the spatial disaggregation of emissions from industrial-use solvent activities, mainly wood paint applications. Observed benzene levels in Barcelona's urban traffic areas were 5 times larger than the ones observed in Madrid. MONARCH failed to reproduce the observed gradient between the two cities due to uncertainties arising from estimating emissions from motorcycles and mopeds, as well as from different measurement methods and the model's capacity to accurately simulate meteorological conditions. Our results are constrained by the spatial and temporal coverage of available BTX observations, posing a key challenge in evaluating the spatial distribution of modelled levels and associated emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how innovation logics infiltrate problem and value definitions in maintenance and repair, and how innovation itself depends on considerable, often invisible care work beyond the seemingly smooth entrepreneurial narratives. We build on a growing body of work in STS that investigates the relationship between innovation and maintenance and repair. This literature argues that the obsession with innovation crowds out attention to maintenance, that innovation creates future obligations of maintenance that are often not factored into technological promises, and that ordinary maintenance and repair practices are often innovative in their own right. Empirically, we explore a case where maintenance and repair become the explicit target of high-level, high-tech innovation initiatives and how, as a result, innovation logics colonize maintenance practices. Conceptually, we explore how repair and maintenance sensitivities can be applied to innovation practices to reveal the invisible work needed to align innovation instruments with socio-material and institutional configurations. Drawing on an in-depth case study of sewer inspection robots in Barcelona, we find that attempts to innovate maintenance require a symmetric effort to maintain innovation. In our case study, innovation processes as deployed by the European Commission, research consortia, and companies required substantial repair work to function reliably in specific settings. Our study shows how divergent understandings of the public good in innovation and maintenance contexts may lead to significant tensions, and that much can be gained analytically from not treating innovation and maintenance as opposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water affordability as a dimension of water poverty is becoming an increasing source of concern in cities of the Global North. Studies on water affordability are either based on water wants and not needs or tend to use spatial scales too large for effective analyses of local inequities that can truly guide policy actions. In this contribution, we calculate and map a Water Affordability Index (WAI) based on the minimum water requirement of 100 litres/person/day at the scale of the census tract for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. We also apply global and local spatial autocorrelation analyses to investigate spatial relationships between the WAI and poverty-related sociodemographic variables. Results show that, even though average WAI values are moderate, the distribution pattern of higher and lower values tends to be clustered in some districts and neighbourhoods of the study area. Bivariate correlations indicate that water affordability is not only related to poverty variables but also to the diversity of water prices. Findings exemplify how the constructed index can complement existing affordability indicators, revealing and mapping important risk groups struggling to meet the costs of essential water needs. Water affordability could be mitigated by supportive water pricing policies for vulnerable households in water poverty hotspots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic and the burden on hospital resources, the rapid categorization of high-risk COVID-19 patients became essential, and lung ultrasound (LUS) emerged as an alternative to chest computed tomography, offering speed, non-ionizing, repeatable, and bedside assessments. Various LUS score systems have been used, yet there is no consensus on an optimal severity cut-off. We assessed the performance of a 12-zone LUS score to identify adult COVID-19 patients with severe lung involvement using oxygen saturation (SpO2)/fractional inspired oxygen (FiO2) ratio as a reference standard to define the best cut-off for predicting adverse outcomes. Methods: We conducted a single-centre prospective study (August 2020–April 2021) at Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain. Upon admission to the general ward or intensive care unit (ICU), clinicians performed LUS in adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia. Severe lung involvement was defined as a SpO2/FiO2 ratio <315. The LUS score ranged from 0 to 36 based on the aeration patterns. Results: 248 patients were included. The admission LUS score showed moderate performance in identifying a SpO2/FiO2 ratio <315 (area under the ROC curve: 0.71; 95%CI 0.64–0.77). After adjustment for COVID-19 risk factors, an admission LUS score ≥17 was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital death (OR 5.31; 95%CI: 1.38–20.4), ICU admission (OR 3.50; 95%CI: 1.37–8.94) and need for IMV (OR 3.31; 95%CI: 1.19–9.13). Conclusions: Although the admission LUS score had limited performance in identifying severe lung involvement, a cut-off ≥17 score was associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes. and could play a role in the rapid categorization of COVID-19 pneumonia patients, anticipating the need for advanced care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to inventory gestures related to mockery, insult, attracting good luck, or warding off bad luck that a group of informants from Barcelona have performed. The data come from the application of the survey from the Atlas de Gestos, whose task is to collect gestures from the Pan-Hispanic context to describe the gestural repertoire of each territory and conduct comparative studies. The results, interpreted based on social factors (gender, age, and level of instruction), confirm the wide range of gestures for different functions (10 for mockery, 11 for insult and attracting good luck, and 9 for warding off bad luck). Regarding differences based on social variables, the results allow for indicating trends, namely, while the most used gesture to express mockery is sticking out the tongue, young people prefer the gesture of pointing and laughing, and informants over 55 years old only prefer laughing. Concerning insults, the use of peineta is widespread, although differences in behavior between men and women are observed. As for attracting good luck, Barcelona informants opt for crossing fingers, although older generations use gestures with more religious connotations, such as clasping hands. Finally, to ward off bad luck, Barcelona locals mention the gesture of crossing made with the index fingers of each hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sansalvador villa, the first project exclusively designed by Josep Maria Jujol in Barcelona, is a unique architectural complex that piques curiosity about its origins and conception. Its incomplete state, limited documentation, and blend of modernist and organic elements contribute to its exceptional nature. This article delves into its history and conceptualization by examining original documents and conducting a detailed photogrammetric survey of the built architectural complex as it is today. By overlaying new planimetry derived from fieldwork onto the original plans, certain peculiarities, discrepancies, and unforeseen changes emerge, shedding light on Jujol's creative process. The Sansalvador villa reveals the profound connection between the project and its surroundings, showcasing Jujol's keen awareness of the site's pre-existing conditions. His architecture is defined by a critical approach to these conditions, integrating them as essential elements in defining the project's character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pullout analytical model is introduced to simulate the Double Edge Wedge Splitting (DEWS) test to obtain the tensile post-peak response of steel fiber reinforced concretes. One of the main barriers to the widespread utilization of FRC as a structural system is the anisotropy of the material. This augments the uncertainty of the material behavior (fibers random distribution and orientation in the bulk concrete), increases the dispersion of the test results, and requires the performance of characterization tests to check the residual tensile stresses at specific crack opening intervals. The characterization tests proposed in the literature (e.g., Barcelona, Montevideo, Wedge Splitting Test, EN 14651) are time-consuming and relatively complex, demanding careful preparation and hydraulic presses with data acquisition systems. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of alternatives for FRC characterization procedures by the introduction of a pullout analytical model to predict FRC constitutive law based on DEWS tests. The pullout analytical model is calibrated with pullout tests considering straight and hooked-end steel fibers with different strengths, embedment lengths, inclinations, and diameters. A 3D digital model reproducing the experimental DEWS samples is developed, considering the fibers' randomness distribution, orientation, and wall effect. The analyses are compared with four different experimental tests. The results define a linear post-peak tensile constitutive law, considering the mean residual stress values at different COD values. The model was able to reproduce the specimens' production procedures and the fibers' distribution and orientation correctly. The results demonstrated a good agreement with the experimental data. [Display omitted] • Pullout analytical model for straight and hooked-end steel fibers. • 3D parametric digital model considering fibers random distribution and wall effect. • Prediction of DEWS tests considering the manufacturing process. • Determination of FRC linear tensile post-peak constitutive model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, one of the most important causes of mortality is air pollution. To solve this problem, governments have implemented policies to reduce on-road and industrial emissions. In this regard, the Barcelona city council and Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) started implementing the Nova Xarxa de Bus (NXB) to redefine the bus network following the criteria of connectivity, efficiency, and rationality. This policy was implemented in seven phases from 2012 to 2018. In this context, this paper analyses the impact of this policy on Barcelona's air quality using a dataset from 2008 to 2016. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we show that implementing these new routes increased air quality in Barcelona. Additionally, we show that pollution decreased in each phase analysed, especially in the air quality stations near the main roads. From our results, we can infer that an optimal bus route design can improve air quality in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing public opposition, megaevents such as the Summer Olympics continue to proliferate both in the Global North and South, thus reshaping the built environment of cities and the living conditions of their inhabitants. This paper presents a novel analytical tool that expands the perspectives from which to explore urban megaevents. Building on the controversy among megaproject scholars around Albert Hirschman's Hiding Hand principle, we study the diverse roles that optimism can play in the justification, planning, implementation, and evaluation of megaevents. This approach has the potential to unveil key urban policy agendas underpinning the hosting of megaevents. It does so by focusing on two key aspects: first, the various types and degrees of power exercised by the involved stakeholders in their attempts to justify and support or oppose an event during the planning phase, and second, the coping mechanisms deployed by the promoters as they face unexpected constraints during the implementation phase. In doing so, the approach can help to develop more nuanced and context-specific criteria for evaluating the success of megaevents. We exemplify the approach by using the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as an illustrative case study. • The Hiding Hand controversy provides a framework for the analysis of urban megaevents. • We use the Barcelona 1992 Olympics as case study to illustrate the framework. • Sincere and strategic overoptimism play diverse roles throughout a megaevent lifecycle. • The analysis exemplifies the context-dependence of the notions of success and failure. • Sincere and strategic overoptimism typically operate in tandem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper incorporates an explicit mobility dimension into the definition of the neighbourhood and explores its possible implications for the study of spatially distributed phenomena. We analysed the distribution of robbery and theft in Barcelona, Spain, as a testing application. Crime data were aggregated to nonoverlapping units (census tracts) and to a new measure of overlapping neighbourhoods, that we named 'walkhoods', accounting for the distance that can be covered in 5 min at a walking speed of 1 m/s, considering all possible physical barriers. The outcomes of regression models shed new light on the relationship between mobility and crime. When the walkhood scale is established, human mobility patterns have a stronger effect on the outcome variables than when census tracts are used. Results point to walkability constraints and social distances imposed by the massive presence of sporadic users in public spaces as strong predictors of crime occurrence, arguably due to their negative effects on neighbourhood social ties formation. Our findings suggest that more flexible definitions of the neighbourhood could address the social and spatial heterogeneity of urban spaces more properly than traditional approaches. • We propose a new measure of the neighbourhood as a function of walkability. • We called it walkhood and used to study the distribution of crime in Barcelona. • Crime is highly dependent on the concentration of sporadic visitors in public space. • The walkhood is equipped to address the spatial and social heterogeneity of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: Short peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) failure is a common complication that is generally underdiagnosed. Some studies have evaluated the factors associated with these complications, but the impact of care complexity individual factors and nurse staffing levels on PIVC failure is still to be assessed. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors of PIVC failure in the public hospital system of the Southern Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Methods: A retrospective multicentre observational cohort study of hospitalised adult patients was conducted in two public hospitals in Barcelona from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2017. All adult patients admitted to the hospitalisation ward were included until the day of discharge. Patients were classified according to presence or absence of PIVC failure. The main outcomes were nurse staffing coverage (ATIC patient classification system) and 27-care complexity individual factors. Data were obtained from electronic health records in 2022. Results: Of the 44,661 patients with a PIVC, catheter failure was recorded in 2,624 (5.9%) patients (2,577 [5.8%] phlebitis and 55 [0.1%] extravasation). PIVC failure was more frequent in female patients (42%), admitted to medical wards, unscheduled admissions, longer catheter dwell time (median 7.3 vs 2.2 days) and those with lower levels of nurse staffing coverage (mean 60.2 vs 71.5). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the female gender, medical ward admission, catheter dwell time, haemodynamic instability, uncontrolled pain, communication disorders, a high risk of haemorrhage, mental impairments, and a lack of caregiver support were independent factors associated with PIVC failure. Moreover, higher nurse staffing were a protective factor against PIVC failure (AUC, 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.72–0.74). Conclusion: About 6% of patients presented PIVC failure during hospitalisation. Several complexity factors were associated with PIVC failure and lower nurse staffing levels were identified in patients with PIVC failure. Institutions should consider that prior identification of care complexity individual factors and nurse staffing coverage could be associated with a reduced risk of PIVC failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We examined the gut microbiota of travellers returning from tropical areas with and without traveller's diarrhoea (TD) and its association with faecal lipocalin-2 (LCN2) levels. Methods: Participants were recruited at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain, and a single stool sample was collected from each individual to perform the diagnostic of the etiological agent causing gastrointestinal symptoms as well as to measure levels of faecal LCN2 as a biomarker of gut inflammation. We also characterised the composition of the gut microbiota by sequencing the region V3-V4 from the 16S rRNA gene, and assessed its relation with the clinical presentation of TD and LCN2 levels using a combination of conventional statistical tests and unsupervised machine learning approaches. Results: Among 61 participants, 45 had TD, with 40% having identifiable etiological agents. Surprisingly, LCN2 levels were similar across groups, suggesting gut inflammation occurs without clinical TD symptoms. Differential abundance (DA) testing highlighted a microbial profile tied to high LCN2 levels, marked by increased Proteobacteria and Escherichia-Shigella, and decreased Firmicutes, notably Oscillospiraceae. UMAP analysis confirmed this profile's association, revealing distinct clusters based on LCN2 levels. The study underscores the discriminatory power of UMAP in capturing meaningful microbial patterns related to clinical variables. No relevant differences in the gut microbiota composition were found between travellers with or without TD. Discussion: The findings suggest a correlation between gut microbiome and LCN2 levels during travel, emphasising the need for further research to discern the nature of this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Identifying profiles of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and explore their association with different degrees of severity of COVID-19 outcomes (i.e. in-hospital mortality, ICU assistance, and invasive mechanical ventilation). The findings of this study could inform the development of multiple care intervention strategies to improve patient outcomes. Methods: Prospective multicentre cohort study during four different waves of COVID-19 from March 1st, 2020 to August 31st, 2021 in four health consortiums within the southern Barcelona metropolitan region. From a starting point of over 292 demographic characteristics, comorbidities, vital signs, severity scores, and clinical analytics at hospital admission, we used both clinical judgment and supervised statistical methods to reduce to the 36 most informative completed covariates according to the disease outcomes for each wave. Patients were then grouped using an unsupervised semiparametric method (KAMILA). Results were interpreted by clinical and statistician team consensus to identify clinically-meaningful patient profiles. Results: The analysis included nw1 = 1657, nw2 = 697, nw3 = 677, and nw4 = 787 hospitalized-COVID-19 patients for each of the four waves. Clustering analysis identified 2 patient profiles for waves 1 and 3, while 3 profiles were determined for waves 2 and 4. Patients allocated in those groups showed a different percentage of disease outcomes (e.g., wave 1: 15.9% (Cluster 1) vs. 31.8% (Cluster 2) for in-hospital mortality rate). The main factors to determine groups were the patient's age and number of obese patients, number of comorbidities, oxygen support requirement, and various severity scores. The last wave is also influenced by the massive incorporation of COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusion: Our study suggests that a single care model at hospital admission may not meet the needs of hospitalized-COVID-19 adults. A clustering approach appears to be appropriate for helping physicians to differentiate patients and, thus, apply multiple care intervention strategies, as another way of responding to new outbreaks of this or future diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]