Catalan

This chapter presents a general overview of the phonetics and phonology of Catalan, taking into consideration both segmental and suprasegmental phenomena. The chapter provides an updated state-of-the-art report of the most recent investigations in this area. Though the report concentrates on the standard variety, Central Catalan, we also highlight the rich dialectal variation that affects both segmental and prosodic properties. After a brief introduction to the dialectal distribution of the language, the first part of the chapter is devoted to segmental phonology. In this part, we first present the basic segmen-tal inventories of the language, as well as syllable structure types; we then describe the phonological processes that affect both vocalic and consonantal systems. The prosodic part of the chapter covers the main prosodic characteristics of the language, followed by a description of the intonational variation found for a variety of sentence types

From structural to detailed land-use planning in the city of Valencia : options and limits for a new integrating community planning : case of 'Ciutat Vella'

El último cambio de gobierno en la ciudad de Valencia se ha traducido en nuevos enfoques y prácticas para planificar la ciudad, en una reformulación de la política urbanística en sintonía con las demandas ciudadanas de construcción del espacio colectivo. La ciudad apuesta, por un lado, por unos presupuestos participativos para cada barrio de la ciudad como unidad de actuación. Por otro, por una revisión de la ordenación pormenorizada y no tanto por la estructurante, al disponer de mucho suelo urbanizable sin desarrollar. Ello está dando lugar a un proceso de revisión de usos, incluso de desclasificación, y a poner el foco en una mejor dotación de servicios y en la rehabilitación urbana. Así, la planificación comunitaria, que busca la calidad de vida en la ciudad, desde una perspectiva integral, parece haber llegado, súbitamente, dados los excesos y sobredotaciones del viejo urbanismo. Presupuestos participativos y nueva ordenación pormenorizada se llevan a cabo en los barrios desde departamentos del gobierno local diferentes. Ello plantea el reto de la coordinación y coherencia de las actuaciones, clave para que esta nueva planificación comunitaria arraigue. En el texto se abordan y analizan estos procesos y valora la situación resultante.The latest change of government in the city of Valencia has leaded in new approaches and practices for planning the city, in a reformulation of the urban policy in line with the citizen demands for the construction of the collective space. On the one hand, the city promotes participatory budgets for each neighborhood of the city as a unit of action. On the other hand, it promotes a review of the detailed planning instead of the structuring one since there is enough developable land. This is leading to a process of revision of uses, even de-classification, as well as to change the focus on a better provision of services and urban rehabilitation. Thus, community planning, which seeks the quality of life in the city, from an integral perspective, seems to have suddenly started given the excesses and overloads of the old urbanism. Participatory budgets and new detailed land-use planning are carried out in neighborhoods from different local government departments. This raises the challenge of coordination and coherence of the actions that are key for this new community planning to take root. This work addresses and analyzes these processes, and assesses the resulting situation.Fil: Lloret Gual, Pilar. Universidad de ValenciaFil: Farinós Dasí, Joaquín. Universidad de Valenci

Atención a la diversidad: adaptación de cursos de inglés para alumnos con discapacidad auditiva

Los nuevos grados en las universidades exigen la acreditación de un nivel B1 en lenguas extranjeras. Los alumnos con necesidades especiales reclaman a las universidades su derecho a cumplir con este requisito. La problemática surge cuando muchos de ellos han estado exentos de estudiar idiomas durante la educación obligatoria. Paradójicamente, al acceder a la universidad se convierte en requisito obligatorio para superar los grados. Este trabajo recoge el trabajo realizado en el Centro Superior de Idiomas (UA) en su atención a alumnos con discapacidad auditiva que han pasado por sus cursos para formarse en lenguas extranjeras, analizando la experiencia en el aula a partir de la información obtenida de alumnos, intérpretes y profesorado. También plantearemos cómo seguir trabajando en esta línea de inclusión y atención a la diversidad en cursos y exámenes futuros y propondremos un enfoque metodológico para abordar el cambio de actitudes ahondando en las nuevas necesidades creadas, entre ellas, la necesidad de una acreditación “oficial” de idiomas

Relationship among economic crisis, stock market crashes and accounting scandals

Purpose: This work investigates the relationships between stock exchange crashes and accounting scandals. Design/methodology/approach: We analyze the main accounting scandals and stock exchange crashes that occurred between 1980 and 2020. Findings: First of all, it was verified that a stock market crash occurred in the years in which most of the accounting scandals took place (or within the next three years). This evidence is consistent with much of the previous literature. Second, an average of 5.4 years has been estimated as the period of time that elapses between the time a company starts engaging in accounting deception and the moment when it is discovered and the scandal breaks out. Third, it has been found that accounting deception is more likely to occur in years with stock market crashes and in the years immediately following. The literature review revealed no evidence supporting the two latter hypotheses. Research limitations/implications: This exploratory work has several limitations. First of all, only scandals that have been reported on websites in Spanish and English have been analyzed. Therefore, the sample may be biased, giving more weight to companies from Anglo-Saxon and Spanish-speaking countries. Second, the sample was made up of a small number of companies (53), which are those that have met the search criteria used. Practical implications: The findings of this work are relevant today, since a major stock exchange crash has occurred as a result of the coronavirus. Therefore, if the pattern of the most recent decades is repeated, it would be expected that more accounting scandals will come to light in the coming years. Social implications: The conclusions obtained are of great relevance for the different users of the financial information from companies, and also for auditors, consultants and supervisory bodies, since due to the stock exchange crash triggered by COVID-19, they will need to exercise extreme caution in the coming years in relation to financial information. Originality/value: The work provides evidence on the relationship between stock market crashes and accounting scandals, which is a highly relevant topic. The literature review revealed no study using the same methodology or a similar sample of companiesPeer Reviewe

De la ordenación estructural a la pormenorizada en la ciudad de Valencia; opciones y límites para una nueva planificación comunitaria de carácter integrado: el caso de ‘Ciutat Vella’

The latest change of government in the city of Valencia has leaded in new approaches and practices for planning the city, in a reformulation of the urban policy in line with the citizen demands for the construction of the collective space. On the one hand, the city promotes participatory budgets for each neighborhood of the city as a unit of action. On the other hand, it promotes a review of the detailed planning instead of the structuring one since there is enough developable land. This is leading to a process of revision of uses, even de-classification, as well as to change the focus on a better provision of services and urban rehabilitation. Thus, community planning, which seeks the quality of life in the city, from an integral perspective, seems to have suddenly started given the excesses and overloads of the old urbanism. Participatory budgets and new detailed land-use planning are carried out in neighborhoods from different local government departments. This raises the challenge of coordination and coherence of the actions that are key for this new community planning to take root. This work addresses and analyzes these processes, and assesses the resulting situation.El último cambio de gobierno en la ciudad de Valencia se ha traducido en nuevos enfoques y prácticas para planificar la ciudad, en una reformulación de la política urbanística en sintonía con las demandas ciudadanas de construcción del espacio colectivo. La ciudad apuesta, por un lado, por unos presupuestos participativos para cada barrio de la ciudad como unidad de actuación. Por otro, por una revisión de la ordenación pormenorizada y no tanto por la estructurante, al disponer de mucho suelo urbanizable sin desarrollar. Ello está dando lugar a un proceso de revisión de usos, incluso de desclasificación, y a poner el foco en una mejor dotación de servicios y en la rehabilitación urbana. Así, la planificación comunitaria, que busca la calidad de vida en la ciudad, desde una perspectiva integral, parece haber llegado, súbitamente, dados los excesos y sobredotaciones del viejo urbanismo. Presupuestos participativos y nueva ordenación pormenorizada se llevan a cabo en los barrios desde departamentos del gobierno local diferentes. Ello plantea el reto de la coordinación y coherencia de las actuaciones, clave para que esta nueva planificación comunitaria arraigue. En el texto se abordan y analizan estos procesos y valora la situación resultante

La dimensión participativa en el diseño de políticas urbanas. El caso valenciano

Citizen initiatives bloom, aiming to manage alternatively public resources in Europe’s major cities, leads to reconsider the way to manage public policies. We are talking about a series of bottom-up initiatives that have completely changed the traditional way to manage cities, based until now on the traditional top-down approach. Lately, as a result of these initiatives, many governments are designing new urban development policies that involve citizens in the new management and design of the city and public spaces. These “new policies”, as well as scarcity of resources and capabilities to face as old as new challenges, seek to find alternative ways of managing public issues. It is the case of citizen consultation on investment by neighborhoods developed by the Valencia City Council. This paper aims to analyze problems of implementation this public policy has to face, as well as its positive and negative impacts, through an analysis of all phases of the citizen consultation process.La aparición y proliferación de iniciativas ciudadanas que tienen como objetivo gestionar de forma distinta los recursos públicos en muchas de las grandes capitales de Europa, hace plantearse en qué estado se encuentran las políticas públicas y sobre todo su gestión. Estamos hablando de una serie de iniciativas surgidas de abajo-arriba que han cambiado la forma tradicional de gestionar la ciudad basada en el tradicional enfoque administrativista de arriba-abajo. Recientemente muchos gobiernos, como consecuencia de estas iniciativas, y de la carencia de recursos y capacidades con los que poder afrontar viejos y nuevos retos, están diseñando nuevas políticas de desarrollo urbano que impliquen más al ciudadano en la gestión y diseño de la ciudad y de su espacio público. Estas «nuevas políticas» pretenden buscar formas alternativas de gestionar los recursos públicos. Es el caso de la consulta ciudadana de inversión por barrios que ha desarrollado el Ayuntamiento de Valencia. Este artículo, a partir del análisis de todas las fases del proceso de consulta ciudadana, hace balance de los problemas de implementación a los que se ha enfrentado y de sus impactos

Successful treatment of lichen planus with sulfasalazine in 20 patients

Lichen planus (LP) is a disturbing pruritic cutaneous disease that may have an spontaneous resolution or exhibit a more chronic course during some weeks or months. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to demonstrate that sulfasalazine is effective in the treatment of LP. METHODS: Twenty patients were diagnosed in our department with LP of the skin and/or mucosa between 1985 and 2001 on the basis of clinical and histologic findings. RESULTS: All patients were treated with sulfasalzine at initial doses of 1.5 g/day, increasing by 0.5 g/week to 3 g/day for 4-16 weeks. Some patients also received descendent doses for 2-12 months. Complete responses were observed in 13 patients and partial responses in seven patients. All patients reported an early resolution of the pruritus. No changes were detected in mucosal LP. Most of the patients tolerated the treatment well and only eight patients presented some minor side-effects. CONCLUSION: Sulfasalazine is a successful therapeutic option for cutaneous LP, constituting an alternative to corticosteroids and retinoid

Analysis of tooth mark patterns on bone remains caused by wolves (Canis lupus) and domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) for taxonomic identification: A scoping review focused on their value as a forensic tool.

The interaction between canids and humans is not free of conflicts. In Europe, wolves and dogs' attacks on domestic animals cause social and financial damages. The governments spend significant sums in compensation payments. Some of the allegations of wolf attacks on livestock may be false or difficult to prove. The insufficient expertise and unreliable methods used during the investigations often make it difficult to achieve a successful perpetrator identification, which leads to the stigmatization of this species and wrong paid compensations. Comparative studies of wolf and dog bite marks and tooth marks, to identify a potential aggressor agent, are very limited. In our study, 12,120 records were reviewed and only 16 of them fulfilled the search criteria set by the authors. Only one article carried out, exclusively, a comparison of wolf and dog bite mark patterns. These studies are commonly used in archaeological, paleontological and taphonomic contexts, but not in forensics. Despite the notable advances in bite mark analysis, most studies were carried out comparing bite marks from wolves and/or dogs and taxa belonging to other families. Currently, in forensic context, there is inconclusive evidence to certainly distinguish if the cause of death was created by wolves or domestic dogs using the forensic analysis of tooth/bite marks patterns from both canids (beyond any reasonable doubt). New and complementary forensic tools must be developed to differentiate between these two subspecies with a higher degree of certainty. Forensic veterinary odontology could play an important role in fulfilling this goal. The aim of the present work is to review and evaluate the studies on the identification of tooth marks on bone remains caused by two subspecies belonging to the same genus, wolves and domestic dogs

A Morphological and Morphometric Dental Analysis as a Forensic Tool to Identify the Iberian Wolf (Canis Lupus Signatus)

Depredation by the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) is currently thought to be a problem in some areas of Spain. However, there are few technically validated forensic tools available to determine the veracity of claims with a high degree of scientific confidence, which is important given that such attacks may lead to compensation. The analysis of bite marks on attacked animals could provide scientific evidence to help identify the offender. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the morphological and morphometric characteristics of Iberian wolf dentition. This data collection would serve as a base-point for a more accurate identification of the wolves thorough their bite marks. For the first time, 36 dental variables have been studied in wolves' skulls, employing univariate and multivariate analyses. The general morphological dental characteristics of wolves are very similar in terms of their dental formula and tooth structure to other canids, like domestic dogs. Sex differentiation was evident, principally in terms of the maxillary distance between the palatal surfaces of the canine teeth (UbC) and the width of the left mandibular canine teeth (LlCWd). New morphometric reference information was obtained that can aid the forensic identification of bite marks caused by the Iberian wolf with greater confidence

Diamond for Electronics: Materials, Processing and Devices

Progress in power electronic devices is currently accepted through the use of wide bandgap materials (WBG). Among them, diamond is the material with the most promising characteristics in terms of breakdown voltage, on-resistance, thermal conductance, or carrier mobility. However, it is also the one with the greatest difficulties in carrying out the device technology as a result of its very high mechanical hardness and smaller size of substrates. As a result, diamond is still not considered a reference material for power electronic devices despite its superior Baliga's figure of merit with respect to other WBG materials. This review paper will give a brief overview of some scientific and technological aspects related to the current state of the main diamond technology aspects. It will report the recent key issues related to crystal growth, characterization techniques, and, in particular, the importance of surface states aspects, fabrication processes, and device fabrication. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of diamond devices with respect to other WBG materials are also discussed.The authors thank the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of the Spanish Government for funding under Grant Nos. TEC2017-86347-C2-1-R, ESP2017-91820, PID2020-117201RB-C21, and PID2019-110219RB-100 and the Junta de Andalucia (Andalusian Government, Spain) for funding through Nos. P20_00946, FEDER-UCA18- 106470 and FEDER-UCA18-107851 projects