Cross-linguistic influences in the phonetic and lexical component in English, Baque and Spanish: Contextual and individual factors in language acquisition and attrition.

350 p.

An Analysis of English, Spanish and Basque Demonstratives in Narrative: a Matter of Viewpoint

[EN]This paper undertakes the study of the occurrence of non-corresponding demonstrative forms in Spanish, Basque and English in exactly the same linguistic context. It is proposed that the differenccs in the choice of the demonstratives result from the differences in the kind of iniormation that must be coded in each of the languages. Thus, I will argue that in Spanish and Basque the obligatory coding of the aspectual categories of the imperfect and the preterit has the function of imposing specific viewing arrangements onto the situations they designate. By contrast, in English, where the aspectual distinction is not overtly coded, the demonstrativcs are proposed to fulfil this function.

Validation of a Spanish version of the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR)

8 p.

Processing Facilitation Strategies in OV and VO Languages: A Corpus Study

The present corpus study aimed to examine whether Basque (OV) resorts more often than Spanish (VO) to certain grammatical operations, in order to minimi ze the number of arguments to be processed before the verb. Ueno & Polinsky (2009) argue that VO/OV languages use certain grammatical resources with different frequencies in order to facilitate real-time processing. They observe that both OV and VO languages in their sample (Japanese, Turkish and Spanish) have a similar frequency of use of subject pro-drop; however, they find that OV languages (Japanese, Turkish) use more intransitive sentences than VO languages (English, Spanish), and conclude this is an OV-specific strategy to facilitate processing. We conducted a comparative corpus study of Spanish (VO) and Basque (OV). Results show (a) that the fre- quency of use of subject pro-drop is higher in Basque than in Spanish; and (b) Basque does not use more intransitive sentences than Spanish; both languages have a similar frequency of intransitive sentences. Based on these findings, we conclude that the frequency of use of grammatical resources to facilitate the processing does not depend on a single typological trait (VO/OV) but it is modulated by the concurrence of other grammatical feature.

Presencia equilibrada entre mujeres y hombres en consejos de administración: identificación de los Stakeholders

[ES] En España, la reciente normativa ha convertido la presencia equilibrada de mujeres y hombres en los Consejos de Administración en un elemento a incorporar en la gestión empresarial. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar los grupos de interés (stakeholders) que demandan a las empresas esta presencia equilibrada utilizando la metodología de Mitchell et al. (1997) y Agle et al. (1999).

El clasicismo en el País Vasco: Ramón de Basterra

[ES] Este trabajo analiza la obra del poeta y ensayista Ramón de Basterra (1888-1928), tratando de establecer las peculiaridades de su dimensión clasicista, en comparación con las líneas generales del clasicismo de la época. El clasicismo es visto como un componente fundamental de las ideologías conservadoras y del fascismo en el siglo XX. Se destacan las relaciones del autor con la intelectualidad vasca, especialmente bilbaína , y española. El conjunto de su obra, en particular La obra de Trajano (1921) y Las ubres luminosas (1923), representan una singular aportación a la historia del clasicismo, poco estudiado todavía en nuestro país. Para Basterra. La romanidad, la latinidad y la cristiandad como ejes de la misión civilizatoria de Occidente y su concepción esencialista y ahistórica de la raza y la nacionalidad españolas son elementos centrales de la obra basterriana. En la perspectiva de un análisis del fascismo que destaca el papel nuclear del culto a la romanidad, este autor podría ser definido como "protofascista".

El arte en la enfermería: referencias visuales de la Metodología Enfermera Aplicadas al P.A.E., según el modelo de Virginia Henderson

[ES]Con este trabajo se procedió a determinar la fidelidad con la que la cinematografía española recoge la esencia de la asistencia de enfermería teniendo en cuenta el modelo de Virginia Henderson. Para llevar a cabo la investigación del papel de enfermería se analizaron siete película con origen español cuya filmación transcurre en centros sanitarios. Tras analizar los largometrajes se llegó a la conclusión de que la cinematografía española recoge con fidelidad la esencia de las necesidades básicas de Virginia Henderson.

An austerity-driven energy reform

In July 2013, the government approved a major overhaul of the Spanish electricity sector to correct existing imbalances that have led to an exponential increase of regulated electricity costs and a huge tariff deficit. The reform addresses the problem of financial sustainability of the sector, severely affected by weak demand and overcapacity. Previous regulation introduced in 2012 and early 2013, also aimed at restoring financial stability of the sector, failed to correct the tariff shortfall and new regulatory measures were needed to reduce the 4.5 billion euros forecasted deficit for 2013. The frequent change of the rules of the game in the sector has created regulatory uncertainty, more so as it is not clear that the present reform will be sufficient to eliminate the deficit. Moreover, the government has left the door open to new regulation that would deal with the price formation system. In general, short run financial criteria have prevailed, while efficiency principles and a long run perspective have little weight in the reform.

Intermediate Macroeconomics : Self-evaluation exercises

This resource can be particularly helpful to students taking the Intermediate Macroeconomics course, which corresponds to the second year of the current Degree in Economics at the University of the Basque Country UPV/ EHU. The precise content of this resource is a collection of eight chapters of multiple-choice questions. For each question the user is asked to guess which the correct answer is. Finally, the tool will return all the correct answers for the whole test, thereby allowing the user to check the validity of his/her answers. A remarkable feature of the tool is that it has been edited in three versions, for the three languages (Spanish, Basque and English) in which the subject is taught at the UPV/EHU.

Reform of Spain's profesional services market: Implementation of the EU Services Directive

The implementation of the European Commission Services Directive initiated the modernization process of services markets within the European Union. The objective was to guarantee the creation of a single market by ensuring the freedom of establishment and circulation. The transposition of the Directive in Spain triggered an initial wave of reforms in the Spanish legal system. A second package of reforms is currently underway, following recommendations by the EC, IMF and OECD, which highlight the relative lack of competition in Spain’s services as one of the major imbalances in its economy, alongside the public deficit and unemployment. Both the implemented and planned reforms represent a major step forward. Nevertheless, the government has recently announced modifications to the draft bill of the Professional Services and Associations Law, which is expected to soon be submitted for parliamentary debate and approval. Taking into consideration modifications already introduced, together with anticipated further changes, it will be important to maintain the main points of the draft bill and to introduce a deeper review of the legal framework for professional services, of the professional associations themselves, and for the activities that are subject to compulsory membership within a professional association. Spain’s territorial map of professional associations must too be redrawn.

Análisis de emplazamiento de un parque eólico en la parte peninsular española.

[ES]El objetivo de este trabajo fin de grado es analizar el recurso eólico presente en la parte peninsular español y diseñar un parque eólico en el que se considere el emplazamiento más óptimo. Para ello se analizan mapas de vientos, mapas de espacios protegidos, mapas de batimetría y de disposición del medio marino. Tras ello se concluye que ese punto óptimo se encuentra en la costa de Cádiz, cercana al Cabo de Trafalgar. En ese punto se diseña un parque eólico offshore. Adicionalmente, se calcula la generación de energía eléctrica anual en ese parque y se realiza su correspondiente planificación y análisis económico.

Human Endogenous Retrovirus HERV-Fc1 Association with Multiple Sclerosis Susceptibility: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are repetitive sequences derived from ancestral germ-line infections by exogenous retroviruses and different HERV families have been integrated in the genome. HERV-Fc1 in chromosome X has been previously associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Northern European populations. Additionally, HERV-Fc1 RNA levels of expression have been found increased in plasma of MS patients with active disease. Considering the North-South latitude gradient in MS prevalence, we aimed to evaluate the role of HERV-Fc1on MS risk in three independent Spanish cohorts. Methods: A single nucleotide polymorphism near HERV-Fc1, rs391745, was genotyped by Taqman chemistry in a total of 2473 MS patients and 3031 ethnically matched controls, consecutively recruited from: Northern (569 patients and 980 controls), Central (883 patients and 692 controls) and Southern (1021 patients and 1359 controls) Spain. Our results were pooled in a meta-analysis with previously published data. Results: Significant associations of the HERV-Fc1 polymorphism with MS were observed in two Spanish cohorts and the combined meta-analysis with previous data yielded a significant association [rs391745 C-allele carriers: p(M-H) = 0.0005; ORM-H (95% CI) = 1.27 (1.11-1.45)]. Concordantly to previous findings, when the analysis was restricted to relapsing remitting and secondary progressive MS samples, a slight enhancement in the strength of the association was observed [p(M-H) = 0.0003, ORM-H (95% CI) = 1.32 (1.14-1.53)]. Conclusion: Association of the HERV-Fc1 polymorphism rs391745 with bout-onset MS susceptibility was confirmed in Southern European cohorts.

Strategic Behavior and Collusion: An Application to the Spanish Electricity Market

The paper has two major contributions to the theory of repeated games. First, we build a supergame oligopoly model where firms compete in supply functions, we show how collusion sustainability is affected by the presence of a convex cost function, the magnitude of both the slope of demand market, and the number of rivals. Then, we compare the results with those of the traditional Cournot reversion under the same structural characteristics. We find how depending on the number of firms and the slope of the linear demand, collusion sustainability is easier under supply function than under Cournot competition. The conclusions of the models are simulated with data from the Spanish wholesale electricity market to predict lower bounds of the discount factors.

Asset pricing and systematic liquidity risk: an empirical investigation of the Spanish stock market

Systematic liquidity shocks should affect the optimal behavior of agents in financial markets. Indeed, fluctuations in various measures of liquidity are significantly correlated across common stocks. Accordingly, this paper empirically analyzes whether Spanish average returns vary cross-sectionally with betas estimated relative to two competing liquidity risk factors. The first one, proposed by Pastor and Stambaugh (2002), is associated with the strength of volume-related return reversals. Our marketwide liquidity factor is defined as the difference between returns highly sensitive to changes in the relative bid-ask spread and returns with low sensitivities to those changes. Our empirical results show that neither of these proxies for systematic liquidity risk seems to be priced in the Spanish stock market. Further international evidence is deserved.

A colorectal cancer genome-wide association study in a Spanish cohort identifies two variants associated with colorectal cancer risk at 1p33 and 8p12

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a disease of complex aetiology, with much of the expected inherited risk being due to several common low risk variants. Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have identified 20 CRC risk variants. Nevertheless, these have only been able to explain part of the missing heritability. Moreover, these signals have only been inspected in populations of Northern European origin. Results: Thus, we followed the same approach in a Spanish cohort of 881 cases and 667 controls. Sixty-four variants at 24 loci were found to be associated with CRC at p-values <10-5. We therefore evaluated the 24 loci in another Spanish replication cohort (1481 cases and 1850 controls). Two of these SNPs, rs12080929 at 1p33 (P-replication=0.042; P-pooled=5.523x10(-03); OR (CI95%)=0.866(0.782-0.959)) and rs11987193 at 8p12 (P-replication=0.039; P-pooled=6.985x10(-5); OR (CI95%)=0.786(0.705-0.878)) were replicated in the second Phase, although they did not reach genome-wide statistical significance. Conclusions: We have performed the first CRC GWAS in a Southern European population and by these means we were able to identify two new susceptibility variants at 1p33 and 8p12 loci. These two SNPs are located near the SLC5A9 and DUSP4 loci, respectively, which could be good functional candidates for the association signals. We therefore believe that these two markers constitute good candidates for CRC susceptibility loci and should be further evaluated in other larger datasets. Moreover, we highlight that were these two SNPs true susceptibility variants, they would constitute a decrease in the CRC missing heritability fraction.