Economic complexity (ECI) and output volatility: A panel data analysis.

Treballs Finals del Grau d'Economia, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2021-2022 , Tutor: Esther Vayá ValcarceThis paper aims to investigate the relationship between economic complexity and output volatility. We analyze whether Economic Complexity Index (ECI) ratings affect macroeconomic volatility. Given that the ECI aims to measure productive knowledge, we expect to see that countries with a higher ECI score are more resilient to economic shocks and, hence, have lower volatility. We estimate a fixed effects model for a series of 84 countries for the period between 1995 and 2018. The results indicate an ambiguous relationship between ECI and output volatility

Homoclinic and heteroclinic transfer trajectories between Lyapunov orbits in the Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon systems

In this paper a method for finding homoclinic and heteroclinic connections between Lyapunov orbits using invariant manifolds in a given energy surface of the planar restricted circular three body problem is developed. Moreover, the systematic application of this method to a range of Jacobi constants provides a classification of the connections in bifurcation families. The models used correspond to the Sun-Earth+Moon and the Earth-Moon cases

La calidad de la información contable en las empresas familiares y no familiares en España

Some of the accounting scandals that have taken place in major companies throughout the world have forced the need to analyze in detail the quality of the accounting information submitted by companies. Enron, Parlamat or Pescanova are clear examples of poor quality accounting information, which has confirmed the importance of transparency and confidence in the information sent to the markets. On the other hand, family firms have acquired great relevance in the academic world recently, especially in countries in which these types of companies represent a high percentage of the total number of businesses, as is the case of Spain, where family firms represent more than 85% of the total. Given the importance of both disciplines (the quality of accounting information and family firms), this thesis has as its primary objective the analysis of the quality of accounting information in Spanish firms, including both family and non family businesses. It is well known that the family entity of a firm gives the company a set of features that makes it different from the non-family one. This is the reason we analyze them separately. Following similar approaches used to measure the quality of accounting information this thesis is primarily based on the existence of earnings management practices. However, even if earnings management has been treated in numerous studies recently, it has nearly always been analyzed exclusively from an accounting point of view (what is called accounting earnings management, defined as the one that affects accounting variables but not cash flows). Besides this one, real earnings management emerges when managers take operational decisions (real decisions) to achieve specific goals. This type of earnings management has been very little studied to date. This work also compares the results obtained in the previous analyses with two other metrics commonly used in this type of research: conservatism and the quality of accruals. Financial statement data for a sample of 850 listed and non-listed Spanish companies with almost 6,000 observations during the period 2003¿2011 were collected from the SABI database. In addition to the inclusion of non-listed companies in the sample, one of the main features of this work is the methodology adopted for the identification of family and non-family firms. While the vast majority of studies published to date have used the level of insider ownership concentration to classify family and non-family firms, this thesis is based on the analysis of the owners¿ surnames and those of other decision-making managers within the companies. The results reveal that listed family firms convey financial information of lower quality compared to their non-family peers, due the use accounting earnings management practices. However, we find opposite evidence if the founding family has higher ownership concentration or if the CEO is a family member. Non-listed family firms tend to engage in less accounting earnings management practices and, therefore, its financial information is of better quality. The empirical results also show that on average, founding family ownership and family CEOs are associated with higher earnings quality, booth in listed and in non-listed Spanish firms. On the other side, we document evidence that Spanish family firms incur in fewer real earnings management practices compared to the non-family ones. Furthermore, family ownership is negatively associated with real earnings management, both in listed and in non-listed firms. Finally, it seems that founding family ownership and family CEOs are associated with lower demand for conservatism in Spanish family firms

Impacte a nivell hospitalari de les infeccions respiratòries virals de vies baixes en la població infantil

A Catalunya hi ha poca informació sobre el consum de recursos sanitaris que impliquen les infeccions respiratòries virals de vies baixes (bronquiolitis, bronquitis, agudització asmàtica i pneumònia) en la població infantil. Un nou estudi ha analitzat l'epidemiologia, els símptomes, la gravetat i el consum de recursos sanitaris d'aquestes infeccions entre 2012 i 2020 a l'Hospital Infantil Vall d'Hebron.En Cataluña existe poca información sobre el consumo de recursos sanitarios que implican las infecciones respiratorias virales de vías bajas (bronquiolitis, bronquitis, agudización asmática y neumonía) en la población infantil. Un nuevo estudio ha analizado la epidemiología, los síntomas, la gravedad y el consumo de recursos sanitarios de estas infecciones entre 2012 y 2020 en el Hospital Infantil Vall d'Hebron.In Catalonia, information is scarce about the in-hospital burden of diseases involving viral lower respiratory tract infections (bronchiolitis, bronchitis, asthma exacerbation and pneumonia) in paediatric population. A new study has analyzed the epidemiology, the symptoms, the severity and the economical features of these infections between 2012 and 2020 at the Children's Hospital in Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus

An approach to identify urban groundwater recharge

Evaluating the proportion in which waters from different origins are mixed in a given water sample is relevant for many hydrogeological problems, such as quantifying total recharge, assessing groundwater pollution risks, or managing water resources. Our work is motivated by urban hydrogeology, where waters with different chemical signature can be identified (losses from water supply and sewage networks, infiltration from surface runoff and other water bodies, lateral aquifers inflows, ...). The relative contribution of different sources to total recharge can be quantified by means of solute mass balances, but application is hindered by the large number of potential origins. Hence, the need to incorporate data from a large number of conservative species, the uncertainty in sources concentrations and measurement errors. We present a methodology to compute mixing ratios and end-members composition, which consists of (i) Identification of potential recharge sources, (ii) Selection of tracers, (iii) Characterization of the hydrochemical composition of potential recharge sources and mixed water samples, and (iv) Computation of mixing ratios and reevaluation of end-members. The analysis performed in a data set from samples of the Barcelona city aquifers suggests that the main contributors to total recharge are the water supply network losses (22%), the sewage network losses (30%), rainfall, concentrated in the non-urbanized areas (17%), from runoff infiltration (20%), and the Besòs River (11%). Regarding species, halogens (chloride, fluoride and bromide), sulfate, total nitrogen, and stable isotopes (<sup>18</sup>O, <sup>2</sup>H, and <sup>34</sup>S) behaved quite conservatively. Boron, residual alkalinity, EDTA and Zn did not. Yet, including these species in the computations did not affect significantly the proportion estimations

An approach to identify urban groundwater recharge

Evaluating the proportion in which waters from different origins are mixed in a given water sample is relevant for many hydrogeological problems, such as quantifying total recharge, assessing groundwater pollution risks, or managing water resources. Our work is motivated by urban hydrogeology, where waters with different chemical signature can be identified (losses from water supply and sewage networks, infiltration from surface runoff and other water bodies, lateral aquifers inflows, ...). The relative contribution of different sources to total recharge can be quantified by means of solute mass balances, but application is hindered by the large number of potential origins. Hence, the need to incorporate data from a large number of conservative species, the uncertainty in sources concentrations and measurement errors. We present a methodology to compute mixing ratios and end-members composition, which consists of (i) Identification of potential recharge sources, (ii) Selection of tracers, (iii) Characterization of the hydrochemical composition of potential recharge sources and mixed water samples, and (iv) Computation of mixing ratios and reevaluation of end-members. The analysis performed in a data set from samples of the Barcelona city aquifers suggests that the main contributors to total recharge are the water supply network losses (22%), the sewage network losses (30%), rainfall, concentrated in the non-urbanized areas (17%), from runoff infiltration (20%), and the Besòs River (11%). Regarding species, halogens (chloride, fluoride and bromide), sulfate, total nitrogen, and stable isotopes (18O, 2H, and 34S) behaved quite conservatively. Boron, residual alkalinity, EDTA and Zn did not. Yet, including these species in the computations did not affect significantly the proportion estimations

El Perfil professional del tècnic de joventut : anàlisi de la realitat a les comarques gironines

Sobre el perfil professional del tècnic de joventut a Catalunya, especialment a les comarques gironine

Fatty acid profiles of the main lipid classes of green seaweeds from fish pond aquaculture

The lipid composition of five species of green seaweeds (Chaetomorpha linum, Rhizoclonium riparium, Ulva intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, and Ulva prolifera) grown in fish pond aquaculture systems was studied. In particular, the overall fatty acid (FA) profile and the FA profile of each main lipid class found in these seaweed species were thoroughly analyzed. It was found that every seaweed had a specific FA profile, whose specificities were rendered more obvious with the study of the FA profile per lipid class. However, between U.lactuca and U.intestinalis, there were only minor differences. Nonetheless, it was possible to identify significant differences between the palmitic acid content in the phospholipid (PL) and glycolipid (GL) classes of each seaweed. A clear distinction between the FA profiles of R.riparium and C.linum, which belong to the Cladophorales order, and those of Ulva genus, Ulvales order, was also determined. Moreover, there were also differences among lipid classes, yielding large contrasts between PLs+GLs and triacylglycerols (TAGs) as well as between monoacylglycerols (MAGs) and free fatty acids (FFAs). This study also found evidence supporting the location of particular FAs in specific TAG positions. FA profiles have the potential to be used as a chemotaxonomic tool in green seaweeds, providing a simple method to check authenticity of seaweed used as food.Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Moderate alcohol drinking is not associated with risk of depression in older adults

The scarce research on the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on mental health among older adults suggests a protective effect against depression. We prospectively examined the association between patterns of moderate alcohol consumption, depression and psychological distress, using information from 5, 299 community-dwelling older adults from the ELSA and Seniors-ENRICA cohorts. A Mediterranean drinking pattern (MDP) was defined as moderate alcohol intake (<40 g/day for men; <24 g/day for women) with a preference for wine and drinking only with meals. Depression was ascertained with the 10-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-10), a self-report of clinically-diagnosed depression, or being on anti-depressant medication (Seniors-ENRICA); and with the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (ELSA). Psychological distress was assessed with the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). Compared to never drinkers, moderate drinkers showed comparable scores on the ENRICA-GDS-10 (PRR (95%CI): 1.03 (0.84–1.26)), the ENRICA-GHQ-12 (0.88 (0.73–1.06)), the ELSA-CES-D (0.92 (0.79–1.06)) and the ELSA-GHQ-12 (0.75 (0.55–1.01). The MDP was not associated with the GDS-10 or GHQ-12 scores, or with clinically-diagnosed depression; however drinkers with a preference for wine showed an increased number of psychological distress symptoms (1.31 (1.03–1.66)). In conclusion, we found no consistent protective association between moderate alcohol consumption and depression in older adults

Influential factors in water planning for sustainable tourism destinations

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journal of Sustainable Tourism on 28 Feb 2018, available online at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2018.1433183."Many destinations are implementing various water management alternatives to diminish the environmental impacts of tourism and increase sustainability. These efforts toward sustainability can be understood as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies implemented by tourism destinations. This paper is focused on the tourism destination of the Costa Brava (Catalonia, Spain) and proposes a method for selecting a list of influential factors in water management for sustainable tourism destinations by considering stakeholder preferences for technical, economic, social, political, and environmental factors. A new qualitative Delphi technique is used to identify a set of qualitative and quantitative factors by surveying eight stakeholders (six water management experts and two hotel managers). In addition, the study presents the weight for each of the influential factors that decision-makers – water planners, policy-makers, tourism destination managers and hotel managers – can use in assessing water management alternatives. Although research to date has addressed many aspects of responsible tourism, there is little literature on the importance of water management in responsible strategies for tourism destinations. This paper contributes to a more efficient selection of CSR strategies in tourism destinations by proposing a new methodology for identifying key factors for assessing sustainable solutions for water problems.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft