Calculation of the variance in surveys of the economic climate

Public opinion surveys have become progressively incorporated into systems of official statistics. Surveys of the economic climate are usually qualitative because they collect opinions of businesspeople and/or experts about the long-term indicators described by a number of variables. In such cases the responses are expressed in ordinal numbers, that is, the respondents verbally report, for example, whether during a given trimester the sales or the new orders have increased, decreased or remained the same as in the previous trimester. These data allow to calculate the percent of respondents in the total population (results are extrapolated), who select every one of the three options. Data are often presented in the form of an index calculated as the difference between the percent of those who claim that a given variable has improved in value and of those who claim that it has deteriorated. As in any survey conducted on a sample the question of the measurement of the sample error of the results has to be addressed, since the error influences both the reliability of the results and the calculation of the sample size adequate for a desired confidence interval. The results presented here are based on data from the Survey of the Business Climate (Encuesta de Clima Empresarial) developed through the collaboration of the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya) with the Chambers of Commerce (Cámaras de Comercio) of Sabadell and Terrassa.Economic climate, variances, sampling methods.

Calculation of the variance in surveys of the economic climate.

Public opinion surveys have become progressively incorporated into systems of official statistics. Surveys of the economic climate are usually qualitative because they collect opinions of businesspeople and/or experts about the long-term indicators described by a number of variables. In such cases the responses are expressed in ordinal numbers, that is, the respondents verbally report, for example, whether during a given trimester the sales or the new orders have increased, decreased or remained the same as in the previous trimester. These data allow to calculate the percent of respondents in the total population (results are extrapolated), who select every one of the three options. Data are often presented in the form of an index calculated as the difference between the percent of those who claim that a given variable has improved in value and of those who claim that it has deteriorated. As in any survey conducted on a sample the question of the measurement of the sample error of the results has to be addressed, since the error influences both the reliability of the results and the calculation of the sample size adequate for a desired confidence interval. The results presented here are based on data from the Survey of the Business Climate (Encuesta de Clima Empresarial) developed through the collaboration of the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya) with the Chambers of Commerce (Cámaras de Comercio) of Sabadell and Terrassa.Economic climate, variances, sampling methods.

Organocatalitzadors híbrids reciclables per a la condensació de Knoevenagel

L'organocatàlisi i l'ús de catalitzadors heterogenis presenten certs avantatges des del punt de vist econòmic i ambiental. S'han preparat materials híbrids orgànico-inorgànics a partir de sals d'imidazoli i de dihidroimidazoli que han resultat ser organocatalitzadors actius i reciclables en la condensació de Knoevenagel d'aldehids aromàtics amb malononitril i cianoacetat d'etil en absència de dissolvent.La organocatálisis y el uso de catalizadores heterogéneos presentan ciertas ventajas desde el punto de vista económico y ambiental. Se han preparado materiales híbridos orgánico-inorgánicos a partir de sales de imidazolio y de dihidroimidazolio que han resultado ser organocatalizadores activos y reciclables en la condensación de Knoevenagel de aldehídos aromáticos con malononitrilo y cianoacetato de etilo en ausencia de disolvente.Organocatalysis and heterogeneous catalysts provide certain advantages from both the economical and environmental point of view. Organic-inorganic hybrid materials have been prepared from imidazolium and dihidroimidazolium salts and turned out to be active and reusable organocatalysts for the Knoevenagel condensation of aromatic aldehydes with malononitrile and ethyl cyanoacetate under solvent-free conditions

LAS PRUEBAS DE CORRECCIÓN OBJETIVA Y EL APRENDIZAJE DE LA HISTORIA DEL ARTE EN EL BACHILLERATO

En este artículo se describen la planificación, el desarrollo y los resultados obtenidos en la investigación realizada durante los años 2007-2010. Esta investigación estudia las relaciones entre la frecuencia de las pruebas de corrección objetiva, consideradas fundamentalmente como actividades de aprendizaje, y los resultados obtenidos en la materia de Historia del Arte de segundo de Bachillerato; además, valora otros datos obtenidos a partir de encuestas y entrevistas realizadas al alumnado y al profesorado. En esta experiencia han participado 18 profesores y se ha trabajado con una muestra de más de 400 alumnos de diversos centros de Cataluña, tanto públicos como privados.This article describes the planning, development and the final results of the research which has been carried out between 2007-2010. This research studies the relationship between the frequency of Objective Correction Tests, regarded mainly as learning activities, and the marks obtained in History of Art subject in the second course of Bachillerato. Besides, it also surveys the results obtained from students’ and teachers’ enquiries. This experience has involved 18 teachers and over 400 students from different public and private schools in Catalonia

Bastardas i Boada, Albert; Boix-Fuster, Emili; Torrens Guerrini, Rosa M. (coords.) «El català, llengua mitjana d’Europa. Multilingüisme, globalització i sostenibilitat lingüística»

Recensió bibliogràfica de BASTARDAS I BOADA, Albert; BOIX-FUSTER, Emili; TORRENS GUERRINI, Rosa M. (coords.) (2018). El català, llengua mitjana d’Europa. Multilingüisme, globalització i sostenibilitat lingüística. Barcelona: Octaedro. 312 pàgines, ISBN: 978-84-17219-09-

Las pruebas de corrección objetiva y el aprendizaje de la historia del arte en el bachillerato

En este artículo se describen la planificación, el desarrollo y los resultados obtenidos en la investigación realizada durante los años 2007-2010. Esta investigación estudia las relaciones entre la frecuencia de las pruebas de corrección objetiva, consideradas fundamentalmente como actividades de aprendizaje, y los resultados obtenidos en la materia de Historia del Arte de segundo de Bachillerato; además, valora otros datos obtenidos a partir de encuestas y entrevistas realizadas al alumnado y al profesorado. En esta experiencia han participado 18 profesores y se ha trabajado con una muestra de más de 400 alumnos de diversos centros de Cataluña, tanto públicos como privados

H-index of East Asian Studies Journals according to Google Scholar Metrics (2012-2016)

This report presents a ranking of East Asian Studies (EAS) journals indexed by Google Scholar Metrics (GSM) during the 2012-2016 period. Being the fifth in a collection of working papers that has covered the same data since the 2008-2012 period, it represents an update of the ranking and can be used to compare the evolution of the journals as far as h-index is concerned. GSM poses a series of methodological problems as a bibliometric tool. First, it does not currently allow grouping and sorting all journals belonging to a scientific discipline, but only shows the 20 journals with the greatest impact by topic, which is measured using the h-index. Second, it only lists journals according to academic disciplines if they are written in English. Last but not least, the nearest area to East Asian Studies offered by GSM is "Asian Studies & History". Therefore the list of the 20 most cited journals has a clear bias towards the Social Sciences and does not include many EAS journals with a higher h-index. In order to overcome the above-mentioned limitations, librarians from the Library of Humanities at Autonomous University of Barcelona used a diversity of search procedures to identify title by title the greatest number of EAS journals possible. This search was carried out in September 2017, using keywords in different languages (including Chinese, Korean and Japanese) and Boolean operators. However, from an initial list of 170 titles provided by the Department of Translation and Interpreting and East Asian Studies of the same university, only 86 titles had a h5-index, which means that GSM only covers 50,6% of all active EAS journals. In this sense, it must be reminded that GSM only takes into account journals that have published at least 100 articles during the analysed period and that have received at least one citation. Journals are sorted according to their h5-index in descending order. In case of draw, the discriminating value is the h5-media

De la publicació a l'acreditació. Indicis de qualitat de les revistes de traducció i interpretació

A partir d'una selecció de títols elaborada pel Departament de Traducció i Interpretació i d'Estudis de l'Àsia Oriental, la Biblioteca d'Humanitats de la UAB va cercar els indicadors bibliomètrics en 29 recursos diferents per tal d'oferir una eina útil amb dades objectives sobre la qualitat i l'impacte de les publicacions acadèmiques fàcilment consultable y, a partir d'aquí, es van crear els portals RETI i REAO. Actualment, el professorat pot accedir a un munt d'informació relacionada amb les revistes del seu àmbit des d'aquests portals: des de les seves polítiques d'accés obert, passant per les directrius per als autors, fins a tota la llista de recursos bibliomètrics en què apareixen, que poden donar una idea de la importància relativa de cada revista dins de la seva àrea. Per aquests motius, han esdevingut una eina de gran ajuda per als investigadors en els processos acreditatius de les diferents entitats (ANECA, CNEAI i AQU)

Índice h de las revistas de Traducción e Interpretación de acuerdo con el Google Scholar Metrics (2008-2012)

Este informe presenta un listado de las revistas de Traducción e Interpretación recogidas por Google Scholar Metrics (GSM) durante el período 2008-2012. Puesto que solo es posible buscar en GSM las listas agrupadas por disciplina o área temática en el caso de las revistas en inglés, técnicos de la Biblioteca de Humanidades de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona buscaron de modo sistemático los títulos individualmente a partir de una lista de revistas de la disciplina elaborada por el Departamento de Traducción e Interpretación de la misma universidad. Esta búsqueda se realizó entre julio y diciembre de 2013. Para localizar el mayor número de revistas posible se utilizaron palabras clave de la materia objeto de estudio en distintos idiomas, operadores booleanos y búsquedas en la lengua original de la publicación (incluyendo chino, coreano y japonés). A pesar de ello, de una lista inicial de 180 títulos solo se consiguieron recuperar 32 revistas con el índice h calculado por esta herramienta bibliométrica. El resultado es la siguiente lista de revistas ordenadas de mayor a menor índice h. A igual índice h, se priorizó la revista con la mediana de índice h de los últimos cinco años superior

H-index of East Asian Studies Journals according to Google Scholar Metrics (2011-2015)

This report presents a ranking of East Asian Studies (EAS) journals indexed by Google Scholar Metrics (GSM) during the 2011-2015 period. Being the fourth in a collection of working papers that has covered the same data since the 2008-2012 period, it represents an update of the ranking and can be used to compare the evolution of the journals as far as h-index is concerned. GSM poses a series of methodological problems as a bibliometrical tool. First, it does not currently allow grouping and sorting all journals belonging to a scientific discipline, but only shows the 20 journals with the greatest impact by topic, which is measured using the h-index. Second, it only lists journals according to academic disciplines if they are written in English. Last but not least, the nearest area to East Asian Studies offered by GSM is "Asian Studies & History". Therefore the list of the 20 most cited journals had a clear bias towards the Social Sciences and does not include many EAS journals with a higher h-index. In order to overcome the above-mentioned limitations, librarians from the Library of Humanities at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona used a diversity of search procedures to identify title by title the greatest number of EAS journals possible. This search was carried out in October 2016, using keywords in different languages (including Chinese, Korean and Japanese) and Boolean operators. However, from an initial list of 165 titles provided by the Department of Translation and Interpreting and East Asian Studies of the same university, only 57 titles had a h5-index, which means that GSM only covers 34.5% of all living EAS journals. In this sense, it must be reminded that GSM only takes into account journals that have published at least 100 articles during the analysed period and that have received at least one citation. Journals are sorted according to their h5-index in descending order. In case of draw, the discriminating value is the h5-median