Citizens control and the efficiency of local public services

It is generally accepted that fiscal decentralization increases citizens control over politicians, fostering accountability and increasing efficiency. This article identifies the socioeconomic characteristics of citizens (potential voters) that increase their control over local policy-makers and thus generate greater efficiency in a decentralized context. We also highlight the fiscal characteristics of local governments that influence this control and efficiency. The study examines a sample of Spanish municipalities, applying a methodology based on the conventional procedure of two-stage estimation. In the first stage we estimate the efficiency of local public services by calculating a new version of a global output indicator using the DEA technique. In the second stage, using a Tobit type estimation (censored models) and bootstrap methods, we show how the factors mentioned may influence efficiency. The results suggest that strong presence of retailers, retired people, and people entitled to vote favour citizens control, which fosters accountability and efficiency. A factor that facilitates this control, and therefore greater efficiency, is the presence of low opportunity costs for obtaining information regarding local public service management.technical efficiency, local governments, socioeconomic and fiscal variables, citizens control

Public participation and the role of social networks in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Spain

The Water Framework Directive establishes a common framework for EU water policy. One of its guiding principles is the promotion of public participation in water planning and management. In response to this requirement, River Basin Authorities are undertaking public participation and consultation processes as part of the elaboration of the Draft Basin Management Plans. This article describes and analyzes these processes, placing them in the context of wider public discussions and debates over water policy that have taken place in Spain over the past two decades. The paper argues that some of the strengths of Spanish WFD-related public participation processes derive from the significant improvement in the amount of information made available to the public, and from the relationships that are established between different stakeholder groups and between these and the water administration. On the other hand, the lack of credibility and legitimacy of some processes is related to the lack of political leadership and commitment to public participation, to insufficient inter-administrative cooperation, and to the persistence of parallel channels of communication between traditional water users and water managers. The paper also points to some potential areas of improvement such as the methodological design of public participation processes, a clarification of their impact on specific plans and proposals, and a search for tools to adequately inform and incorporate the wider public in water policy debates. Finally, the paper discusses the role that social networks, built around the ideas and goals of the New Water Culture, are playing in water policy debates by demanding more transparent and sustainable water policy decision making.Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua. Universidad de Zaragoza

Building a New Water Culture in Spain

For over 100 years, water policy and man­ agement in Spain have been instruments of economic and social transformation. Sig­ nificant public and private investments in water supply infrastructures have equipped Spain with over 1,200 major dams, 20 major desalination plants ? with more under construction ? and several inter­basin water transfers. The system has been apparently very successful, with an increase in overall water availability, strong associated eco­ nomic development and few urban water supply shortages. This success has been supported by a widespread consensus among a strong and largely closed water policy community made up of water manag­ ers, irrigators, electric (hydropower) utilities and developers

Nuevos debates sobre escalas en política de aguas. Estado, cuencas hidrográficas y comunidades autónomas en España

El artículo comienza sintetizando el estado del debate sobre las políticas de escala en la gestión de los recursos naturales en general y del agua en particular. Con este telón de fondo, se revisa la evolución jurídica, territorial y organizativa de los organismos de cuenca en España, desde su creación con la denominación de Confederaciones Sindicales Hidrográficas en 1926 hasta su situación en 2015, a la luz de las actuales aproximaciones críticas a la consideración de la cuenca como unidad incuestionable para la gestión del agua. Los autores sostienen que cuando se discute sobre el ‘ajuste espacial’ de la gestión de recursos naturales se debe prestar una especial atención a los cambios en las relaciones sociales y las estructuras de poder que cada opción, en su contexto histórico y geográfico concreto, implica

Estilos de apego y cognición social: un estudio compartivo entre grupo con psicosis y grupo control

Treball Final del Màster Universitari en Rehabilitació Psicosocial en Salut Mental Comunitària. Codi: SAX013. Curs acadèmic: 2016/2017Introducción: La investigación en las variables sociales e interpersonales que influyen en el desarrollo de psicopatología psicótica y/o depresiva está en auge. Dentro de dichas variables se encuentran los estilos de apego y la cognición social, y dentro de estas últimas, diversos sesgos como el de salto a conclusiones que lleva a creencias irracionales y el estilo atribucional. Objetivo: Este estudio pretende comparar los estilos de apego, las creencias irracionales, y el estilo atribucional en un grupo de pacientes con psicosis frente a un grupo de control de población normal. Así mismo, se intentará encontrar relaciones entre estas mismas variables y la sintomatología delirante y el funcionamiento social en el grupo clínico. Método: Se reclutó una muestra de 10 pacientes con diagnóstico de trastorno psicótico y 10 personas sanas equiparadas en edad, sexo y estudios. Se les administraron diferentes cuestionarios y escalas (CaMir-R, TCI, ASQ, SFS, BDI, PDI-21 y la PANSS). Se analizaron los resultados utilizando una prueba t de Student para comparar entre ambos grupos y se calcularon las correlaciones bivariadas entre variables cognitivas y clínicas en el grupo experimental utilizando la correlación de Pearson. Resultados: No se encontraron diferencias en apego seguro entre los grupos. Sin embargo se obtuvieron diferencias significativas entre dimensiones relacionadas con el subtipo de apego inseguro preocupado y en el evitativo, junto con un estilo atribucional de tendencia pesimista asociado a diversas creencias irracionales, sintomatología de ansiedad y depresión e ideación delirante, y reflejado en un peor desempeño en el grado de funcionamiento social. Conclusiones: Ciertos estilos de apego se relacionaron con la mayor frecuencia, gravedad o grado de creencia en las ideas delirantes, así como con un peor funcionamiento social. Creencias irracionales como Culpabilización, Preocupación y ansiedad e Indefensión permiten diferenciar entre los grupos clínico y normal y, además, parecen correlacionar con la presencia de sintomatología delirante y tendencia de respuesta pesimista. Los sujetos con diagnóstico de psicosis cumplen con la tendencia de atribución interna, estable y global para los acontecimientos negativos y, a la inversa, para los positivos. Este hecho concuerda con la mayor presencia de sintomatología depresiva en este grupo.Introduction: Research in social and interpersonal variables that mediate in the psychotic and depressive symptomatology development is becoming more and more important. Among this kind of variables, we find the several types of attachment styles and social cognition, and within them, several cognitive biases like jumping to conclusions bias, who leads to irrational beliefs and the attributional style. Aim: This study aims to compare the attachment styles, irrational beliefs and the attributional style in a group of psychotic patients and a control group. Besides, we will try to find relations between those variables and delusional symptoms and social functioning in the clinical group. Method: We recruited a sample of 10 patients with a psychotic disorder diagnosis, and 10 healthy people paired in age, gender and studies. We assessed them with several questionnaires and scales (CaMir-R, TCI, ASQ, SFS, BDI, PDI-21 and PANSS). We analized the results through a Student’s t test in order to comparing both groups and we calculated the bivariate correlations between cognitive and clinical variables using Pearson’s correlation. Results: We didn’t found differences in secure attachment between groups. However, we obtained significative differences between dimensions related to anxious insecure attachment and to the avoidant one, with an pessimist tendency in the attributional style, related to several irrational beliefs, anxiety and depression symptoms and delusional ideation, reflected in a worst social functioning performance. Conclusions: Certain attachment styles have been related with higher frequency, severity or conviction degree in delusional ideas, and have been related as well with a worst social functioning performance. Irrational beliefs like Blame, Worrying and anxiety and Helplessness allow the comparison between clinical and normal group, and, besides that, seem to correlate with the presence of delusional symptoms and a pessimistic response tendency. Psychotic diagnosed group complies with the internal, stable and global attributional tendency for negative events, and with the external, unstable and specific attributional tendency for positive events. This fact matches with higher presence of depressive symptomatology in this group

Evidencia de aceptabilidad y eficiencia preliminar en intervenciones psicológicas para psicosis vía app: una revisión sistemática.

Treball Final de Màster Universitari en Psicologia General Sanitària. Codi: SBF018. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020Introducción: Hay una importante brecha en el acceso a intervenciones de calidad para personas con psicosis. Por sus características, las intervenciones basadas en aplicaciones móviles para salud (mHealth) para psicosis pueden potencialmente permitir un mayor acceso a tratamiento, con menor coste y más centrado en el usuario. Objetivos: Revisar la evidencia disponible acerca de la aceptabilidad y eficacia de intervenciones psicológicas para trastornos psicóticos a través de una aplicación de smartphone. Se buscan intervenciones orientadas a la prevención de recaídas a través del automanejo de síntomas y/o mejora del funcionamiento personal y social. Método: Se introducen en SCOPUS y PubMed combinaciones de las palabras psicosis, online, mHealth, smartphone, tratamiento psicológico, CBT y tratamiento cognitivo conductual. Se eligen aquellos estudios con base experimental, ensayos clínicos, estudios de caso o evaluaciones cualitativas que aporten resultados sobre la aplicación de una intervención. La población objetivo es aquella con diagnóstico del espectro de la psicosis: esquizofrenia, trastorno esquizoafectivo, primer episodio psicótico o personas jóvenes en riesgo de desarrollo de psicosis (Ultra High Risk, UHR). Resultados: Se incluyen 18 artículos que aportan información sobre 12 intervenciones vía app. Todos informan sobre resultados de aceptabilidad y 10 de ellos también sobre eficacia preliminar. Conclusiones: Se observa una alta aceptabilidad y beneficio potencial. En la mayoría de los casos la app fomenta un mayor grado de autonomía e introspección acerca de sus experiencias. El número de estudios, sobre todo los controlados, son aún escasos, por lo que debe continuar investigándose.Background: There is a significant gap in access to high-quality interventions for people with psychosis. MHealth-based interventions for psychosis have the characteristics to potentially allow greater access to treatment, at a lower cost and more user-centered. Objective: This revision aims to explore the available evidence about the acceptability and efficacy of psychological interventions via smartphone app. Methods: We searched in SCOPUS and PubMed databases combinations of the words psychosis, online, mHealth, smartphone, psychological treatment, CBT, and cognitive behavioral treatment. Studies with experimental basis, controlled and uncontrolled clinical trials, case studies or qualitative evaluations that provide results on the application of an intervention are eligible for inclusion. The target population are those with a diagnosis of the psychosis spectrum: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, first psychotic episode, young people at Ultra High Risk of developing psychosis. Results: Eighteen articles are finally included, providing information about 12 interventions via smartphone app. All of them report on acceptability results, and 10 of them also inform about preliminary efficacy. Conclusions: High acceptability ratios and potential benefit are observed. Most of the interventions foster a greater degree of autonomy in participants and greater insight about their experiences. There is still little evidence in this regard, so it should continue to be investigated

Aprendizaje en cascada de competencias sobre el medio natural. El documental como herramienta

Este proyecto consiste en el desarrollo de una programación didáctica de una unidad relacionada con el medio ambiente dentro del curso de 2º de la ESO. Su desarrollo se basa en los programas oficiales y en el desarrollo de una metodología activa y constructivista, justificada desde los principios de la Educación Ambiental, y haciendo uso del trabajo cooperativo. Se propone como hilo conductor y siguiendo dichos principios, la transmisión de valores y actitudes ambientales a través del documental, como medio de difusión. ¿Se pueden transmitir valores y actitudes a través del documental?, ¿Es necesaria la difusión ambiental? Descubrámoslo a través de este trabajo, pues: “En lugar de preparar sólo el intelecto y la memoria, debemos considerar también el desarrollo de la voluntad, demostrado en la iniciativa y la acción, ya que esa es nuestra tarea principal” Joseph AlbersIt is carrying out the development of a teaching program of a unit related to the environment in the course of 2nd ESO. Its development is based on government programs and the development of an active and constructivist methodology, justified from the principles of environmental education, and making use of collaborative work. It is proposed as a conductive thread and following these principles, the transmission of values and environmental attitudes through the documentary, as a means of diffusion. Can we transmit values and attitudes through documentary?, is environmental diffusion necessary? Let's find out through this work, because: “En lugar de preparar sólo el intelecto y la memoria, debemos considerar también el desarrollo de la voluntad, demostrado en la iniciativa y la acción, ya que esa es nuestra tarea principal” Joseph Alber

The water framework directive, paradigm shift or unrealized promises? A critical evaluation of its implementation from a boundary, economic and socio-political perspective

The approval of Directive 2000/60/EC, better known as the Water Framework Directive (WFD), resulted from efforts to create a coherent approach to water policy at the European scale. It requires surface waters (rivers, lakes, wetlands and transitional and coastal waters) to attain good ecological and chemical status and establishes quantitative and chemical standards for groundwater. The WFD required a significant shift in priorities, goals and operational procedures by placing the emphasis on ecosystem protection and ecological health as a means to guarantee the availability of sufficient good quality water to meet sustainable needs. By establishing the river basin as the pre-eminent geographical scale for water management, it also explicitly recognized that any policy aiming at protecting European waters necessarily had to deal with the policies that guided activities in the surrounding watershed. The discussion and approval of the WFD coincided with a growing debate about, and advocacy for, a paradigm shift in water management. The shift was the expression, in the field of water resources management, of a transformation in the way we understand the relationship between society and nature, reflecting changes in other realms of our socioeconomic environment. The new approach results from the need to acknowledge the hybrid nature of water, emphasizing the complexity of the ecological, socioeconomic, technological, cultural and institutional processes that are intertwined in discourses and understandings of water. Claims about the legitimacy of intervention no longer reside exclusively in the realms of authority and privileged knowledge. Rather, legitimacy now depends on shared definitions of both problem and potential solutions. The evolving water management paradigm thus results from the fact that we are dealing with complex and reflexive socioecological systems and there are diverse incommensurable and equally valid interpretations of our physical environments. In the context of uncertainty, complexity, differing world views and high stakes that characterize water management challenges, new governance approaches have been offered as panaceas to effectively handle them. Most significant among them is the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which promotes the principles of integration, participatory management approaches, and the use of economic instruments to achieve water policy goals. The WFD is perhaps the most comprehensive and far reaching attempt to align water management policy and practice along these principles. An evaluation of its implementation can therefore throw some light on the potential for these management prescriptions to successfully deal with the challenges that are inherent to problems of complex socio-ecological systems This dissertation contributes to a significant body of scholarly work that has studied the European experience with the WFD by critically analyzing the experience of its implementation from three complementary theoretical perspectives that refer three of the four pillars of the WFD: the scalar choices that derive from the application of the IWRM approach to water resources management that the WFD embodies; the use of economic instruments to achieve water policy goals; and the emphasis on public information, consultation and participation to legitimize water planning and management decisions and improve the effectiveness of the Directive. Through the analysis of the geographically specific case of Spain, it questions the underlying assumptions that justify this approach to European water governance and tries to discern whether the policy goals have been met. The analysis is presented through three articles that have been published in peer reviewed academic journals and a fourth publication, of a more normative nature, that reviews the evolution of water policy in Spain with a particular focus on the post-WFD implementation period. The first article (Chapter 4) summarizes the state of the art of the current debate on scalar politics and water governance. In this context, the paper reviews the territorial and organizational evolution of river basin authorities in Spain, since their origins in 1926 as Confederaciones Sindicales Hidrográficas, to their situation in 2015, in light of the current critical approach to the river basin as the unquestionable scale for water governance. It analyzes the complex process of adjustment of the river basin management approach to the politicaladministrative division of the state into increasingly powerful Autonomous regions that emerged with the advent of democracy in the 1970s, and the ensuing reconfiguration of areas of influence, division of authority, and emergence of power conflicts that are still unresolved. The paper argues that when discussing 'spatial fit' issues dealing with natural resources management, special attention should be given to ensuing changes in social relationships and power structures that each option entails, within their specific historical and geographical context. The second article (Chapter 5) discusses the way economic instruments are being promoted as a desirable alternative to public sector action in the allocation and management of natural resources. The case of water is at the vanguard of these processes and is proving to be particularly contentious. In the European Union water policies are increasingly emphasizing the application of economic instruments to improve the allocative equity and economic efficiency in the use of scarce resources. However, there are few analyses of how these instruments are really working on the ground and whether they are meeting their objectives. The paper aims to contribute to this debate by critically analyzing the experience with water markets in Spain, the only country in the European Union where they are operative. It looks at water permit sales during the 2005-2008drought period using the Tajo-Segura transfer infrastructure. The paper describes how the institutional process of mercantilización of water works in practice in Spain. It shows that the use of markets requires an intense process of institutional development to facilitate and encourage their operation. Additionally it argues that these institutions tend to favor the interests of clearly identifiable elites, instead of the public interest they supposedly promote. The third article (Chapter 6) looks at the shift from hierarchical-administrative water management toward more transparent, multi-level and participated governance approaches that has brought about a shifting geography of players, scales of action, and means of influencing decisions and outcomes. In Spain, where the hydraulic paradigm has dominated since the early 1920s, participation in decisions over water was traditionally limited to a closed water policy community, made up of economic water users, primarily irrigator associations and hydropower generators, civil engineering corps and large public works companies. The river basin planning process under the WFD presented a promise of transformation, giving access to non-economic water users, environmental concerns and the wider public to water-related information on planning and decision-making. This process coincided with the consolidation of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by the water administration, with the associated potential for information and data generation and dissemination. ICTs are also increasingly used by citizen groups and other interested parties as a way to communicate, network and challenge existing paradigms and official discourses over water, in the broader context of the emergence of 'technopolitics'. The paper investigates if and in what way ICTs may be providing new avenues for participated water resources management and contributing to alter the dominating power balance. We critically analyze several examples where networking possibilities provided by ICTs have enabled the articulation of interest groups and social agents (what we call citizen water networks - CWN) that have, with different degrees of success, questioned the existing hegemonic view over water. The critical review of these cases sheds light on the opportunities and limitations of ICTs, and their relation with traditional modes of social mobilization in creating new means of societal involvement in water governance. It also shows that the low democratic profile of current water management institutions in Spain clearly hinders ICTs' potential to democratize decision-making processes. Without a real willingness to open up true spaces of deliberation where all actors can participate in conditions of equality, the role of ICTs will remain one of strengthening CWNs' organizational capabilities and ability to obtain and generate information, but will not alter the basic framework for water policy-making. The final article (Chapter 7) complements the more theoretical focus of the previous chapters and from a normative perspective analyzes the evolution of Spanish water policy since the approval of the 1985 Water act. It focuses on the post-WFD implementation period (from 2003 onwards) and on the role economic water users, environmental interests and engaged citizens have played in the achievement of some key WFD-related water policy goals: environmental objectives; public and user participation in water planning and management; and use of economic instruments to achieve water policy goals. Relying on a review of different examples and experiences, the paper concludes that the necessary transformation in water policy goals, operations and procedures required by the implementation of the WFD has not taken place. The traditional water policy community has resisted this transformation and largely continues to dominate water policy decision-making. At the same time, in the context of the WFD a variety of citizen water networks that defend the patrimonial values of water have developed and consolidated and can play a significant role in the consecution of this transformation. In any case, the reforms along the three key WFD-axis analyzed have been more formal than substantial, and the key decisions over water continue to respond to the interests and priorities of the traditional water policy community

Direct and indirect economic impacts of drought in the agri-food sector in the Ebro River basin (Spain).

The economic evaluation of drought impacts is essential in order to define efficient and sustainable management and mitigation strategies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the economic impacts of a drought event on the agricultural sector and measure how they are transmitted from primary production to industrial output and related employment. We fit econometric models to determine the magnitude of the economic loss attributable to water storage. The direct impacts of drought on agricultural productivity are measured through a direct attribution model. Indirect impacts on agricultural employment and the agri-food industry are evaluated through a nested indirect attribution model. The transmission of water scarcity effects from agricultural production to macroeconomic variables is measured through chained elasticities. The models allow for differentiating the impacts deriving from water scarcity from other sources of economic losses. Results show that the importance of drought impacts are less relevant at the macroeconomic level, but are more significant for those activities directly dependent on water abstractions and precipitation. From a management perspective, implications of these findings are important to develop effective mitigation strategies to reduce drought risk exposure

A Novel Real-Time MATLAB/Simulink/LEGO EV3 Platform for Academic Use in Robotics and Computer Science

Over the last years, mobile robot platforms are having a key role in education worldwide. Among others, LEGO Robots and MATLAB/Simulink are being used mainly in universities to improve the teaching experience. Most LEGO systems used in the literature are based on NXT, as the EV3 version is relatively recent. In contrast to the previous versions, the EV3 allows the development of real-time applications for teaching a wide variety of subjects as well as conducting research experiments. The goal of the research presented in this paper was to develop and validate a novel real-time educational platform based on the MATLAB/Simulink package and the LEGO EV3 brick for academic use in the fields of robotics and computer science. The proposed framework is tested here in different university teaching situations and several case studies are presented in the form of interactive projects developed by students. Without loss of generality, the platform is used for testing different robot path planning algorithms. Classical algorithms like rapidly-exploring random trees or artificial potential fields, developed by robotics researchers, are tested by bachelor students, since the code is freely available on the Internet. Furthermore, recent path planning algorithms developed by the authors are also tested in the platform with the aim of detecting the limits of its applicability. The restrictions and advantages of the proposed platform are discussed in order to enlighten future educational applications