Principal component analysis for geographical data: the role of spatial effects in the definition of composite indicators

This paper investigates the role of spatial dependence, spatial heterogeneity and spatial scale in principal component analysis for geographically distributed data. It considers spatial heterogenei..

O discurso opinativo de indignação: Estudo do editorial do jornal Notícias de Moçambique

Utilizando os estudos de Análise Crítica do Discurso, especialmente a partir de Norman Fairclough e Teun Van Djik, analisa-se o editorial do Jornal Notícias (principal jornal impresso de Moçambique) quanto aos argumentos e reconstruções de factos, que mostram a indignação do locutor (empresa jornalística), que solicitam, exortam a indignação do co-lucutor (leitor). Trabalha-se a partir do conceito de abordagem cognitiva de Van Djik e suas categorizações para produzir análises críticas, dos discursos em tela, identificam-se as conotações de convencimento (levar a crer) e de persuasão (levar a fazer) no texto do editorial, avaliando o seu potencial de produzir indignação no público leitor a partir da análise de macroproposições discursivas identificadas e analisadas. Para essa análise do discurso do editorial do Jornal Notícias também são levados em conta aspectos como o contexto em que a locução se dá, os sujeitos envolvidos, a identidade, a interdiscursividade, a intertextualidade e a crítica de uma maneira geral. Sendo a linguagem uma forma de intervenção na ordem social, é necessário buscar compreensões sobre os seus níveis constitutivos (o semântico, o lexicogramatical e o fonológico/grafológico) nas mais diversas manifestações discursivas, aqui enfoca-se o texto opinativo de jornais periódicos

Where the city lights shine? Measuring the effect of sprawl on electricity consumption in Spain

Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that is generally growing across all continents. As a result, modern city structures need larger areas for similar populations. Few studies have evaluated the effects of sprawl on an important aspect in terms of sustainable development: energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether urban sprawl has a significant effect on electricity consumption in Spanish municipalities. The increase in sprawl in Spanish cities is heterogeneous, and the growth of household income during recent decades has allowed households to move to scattered residential areas. This situation makes this country especially interesting as a case study to evaluate the impacts of urban sprawl. In this paper, by disaggregating the electricity consumption of households at the local level using entropy, we measure the effect of sprawl to evaluate whether there is an effect on household energy consumption. The joint consideration of disaggregated data and spatial heterogeneity allows us to assess the effect that sprawl has for certain urban configurations on electricity consumption, which points to the need for policies that involve national, regional and local land use policies

Shadow rates and spillovers across the Eurozone: a spatial dynamic panel model

In this paper, we focus on the effect of spillovers in monetary policy in the period 2004–2017. Firstly, we calculate shadow rates that measure the monetary stances for each country analysed. Then, by using the approach of spatial dynamic panel, we account for the presence of potential spillovers in the Eurozone, both in the long and short run, while controlling for the main channels regulating the monetary stances. Results confirm that monetary policy is largely affected by the presence of spillovers due to proximity in the business cycles and this effect should be considered to manage the effects of monetary policy in different European economies

Structural differences in the eurozone: Measuring financial stability by fci

In this paper, we apply two novel methodological approaches, Tucker three-way principal component analysis and locally weighted principal component analysis, to construct financial conditions index for Eurozone countries. The aim is to point out how real and financial macroeconomic variables affect the credit channel and which variables are more relevant in each occasion, highlighting structural differences within the Eurozone. The results suggest that the Eurozone is involved into a low easing pattern, which is difficult to reverse and affects considerably the financial conditions, surrounding the hypothesis that this pattern has been worsened by structural differences between the European Monetary Union (EMU) countries. Empirical evidence shows that European Central Bank (ECB) policy has managed to cool financial tensions and has made financial conditions homogeneous, but it has not been able to restore them at a precrisis level

Sustainable energy transitions and social inequalities in energy access: A relational comparison of capabilities in three European countries

The influences of energy transitions on social inequity are multidimensional in their attributes and connections. For adequate accountability of their social correlates, policies aiming to implement a transition towards sustainable energy supply and demand have also to be evaluated regarding their influences on social inequalities, namely in terms of energy access and consumption. A capability-based and relational approach is used to monitor the social correlates of the governance of energy transitions. This accountability model is applied to three different European countries: Austria, Belgium, and Bulgaria. They have different characteristics in terms of levels and inequalities regarding material deprivation and energy access as well as patterns of energy transitions. The proposition here is that the capability approach could be usefully adopted to evaluate future implementation of energy transitions and to assess how they could influence inequalities in various aspects of citizen’s daily life. In such a framework, the focus is on potential links between energy transitions and energy inequalities that can be channelled by their respective relations to the capabilities. Data used to quantify the inequalities regarding various capabilities are from the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP)

Assessment of emergency department health care professionals\u27 behaviors regarding HIV testing and referral for patients with STDs

The objective of this study was to evaluate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counseling, testing, and referral practices of emergency department health care professionals (i.e., medical doctors [MD], physician assistants [PA], nurse practitioners [NP], and registered nurses [RN]) for patients presenting with other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). All health care professionals from 10 emergency departments in a northeastern county were asked to complete an anonymous survey. The surveys were returned by 154 (41%) health care professionals (RN = 99, NP = 5, PA = 7, MD = 39, other = 4). The average years in practice were 11. Only 7% of respondents were certified to provide state mandated HIV pretest counseling (certification not required for MD). Respondents reported caring for an average of 13 patients per week with suspected STD. Fifty-five percent of respondents reported that they always or usually warn STD patients of their HIV risk, yet only 10% always or usually encouraged these patients to consent to HIV testing in their emergency department (RN = 7%, NP = 25%, PA = 0%, MD = 16%). Reasons for not offering HIV testing in their emergency department were follow-up concerns (51%), not certified to provide pretest/posttest counseling (45%), and too time consuming (19%). Twenty-seven percent of respondents indicated HIV testing was not available in their emergency department despite all hospital laboratories reporting HIV testing capability. Ninety-three percent of respondents were aware that confidential testing sites were available, but only 35% always or usually referred patients not tested in the emergency department elsewhere for testing. Emergency department health care professionals frequently fail to provide HIV counseling, testing, and/or referral for patients with suspected STD