Human Capital Questionnaire (PHCQ): Assessment of European nurses' perception as indicators of human capital quality

Healthcare accreditation models generally include indicators related to healthcare employees' perceptions (e.g. satisfaction, career development, and health safety). During the accreditation process, organizations are asked to demonstrate the methods with which assessments are made. However, none of the models provide standardized systems for the assessment of employees. In this study, we analyzed the psychometric properties of an instrument for the assessment of nurses' perceptions as indicators of human capital quality in healthcare organizations. The Human Capital Questionnaire was applied to a sample of 902 nurses in four European countries (Spain, Portugal, Poland, and the UK). Exploratory factor analysis identified six factors: satisfaction with leadership, identification and commitment, satisfaction with participation, staff well-being, career development opportunities, and motivation. The results showed the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, which when applied to healthcare organizations, provide a better understanding of nurses' perceptions, and is a parsimonious instrument for assessment and organizational accreditation. From a practical point of view, improving the quality of human capital, by analyzing nurses and other healthcare employees' perceptions, is related to workforce empowerment.

Ironies de l'assaig. Ors, Pla, Fuster: història intel·lectual de l'adhesió incompleta

Per a començar a reflexionar sobre el paper de la ironia en l"assaig, pot ser un bon punt de partida una de les sempre interessants reflexions sobre el gènere que Joan Fuster (1965: 9) tenia per costum regalar cada cop que en preparava un recull, rescatats de la calaixera o de l"hemeroteca: 'D"això que jo escric proses divagatòries de tímida especulació, oscil·lants entre la ironia i la bona fe , els experts solen dir-ne «assaigs».

The Spatial Distribution of Human Capital: Can It Really Be Explained by Regional Differences in Market Access?

This paper tests the robustness of estimates of market access impact on regional variability in human capital, as previously derived in the NEG literature. Our hypothesis is that these estimates of the coefficient of market access, in fact, capture the effects of regional differences in the industrial mix and the spatial dependence in the distribution of human capital. Results for the Spanish provinces indicate that the estimated impact of market access vanishes and becomes non-significant once these two elements are included in the empirical analysis.

The farthest need the best. Human capital composition and development-specific economic growth

We provide robust and compelling evidence of the marked impact of tertiary education on the economic growth of less developed countries and of its the relatively smaller impact on the growth of developed ones. Our results argue in favor of the accumulation of high skill levels especially in technologically under-developed countries and, contrary to common wisdom, independently of the fact that these economies might initially produce lower-technology goods or perform technology imitation. Our results are robust to the different measures used in proxying human capital and to the adjustments made for cross-country differences in the quality of education. Country-specific institutional quality, as well as other indicators including legal origin, religious fractionalization and openness to trade have been used to control for the robustness of the results. These factors are also shown to speed up technology convergence thereby confirming previous empirical studies. Our estimates tackle problems of endogeneity by adopting a variety of techniques, including instrumental variables -for both panel and cross-section analyses- and the two-step efficient dynamics system GMM.

El capital relacional de los estudiantes en la universidad

Este artículo analiza el estado de la reforma de Bolonia en diferentes titulaciones de las universidades públicas catalanas de la Región Metropolitana de Barcelona, y cómo las nuevas condiciones de aprendizaje pueden afectar las relaciones sociales de los estudiantes en la universidad. La investigación identifica una tipología de estudiantes según sus relaciones universitarias, y examina la influencia de dichas relaciones en el proceso de aprendizaje. Los resultados obtenidos mediante una encuesta por cuestionario a 867 estudiantes muestran que, cuanto más variadas y frecuentes son las relaciones (lazos débiles), el estudiante obtiene mejores resultados. Mientras que cuando se trata de buscar recursos para el estudio, los estudiantes tienden a utilizar sus lazos fuertes (compañeros/as de clase o curso), y ello no tiene influencia en el rendimiento.

Transición a la vida adulta de jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual. La opinión de los profesionales de servicios escolares y postescolares = Transition to adulthood of young people with intellectual disabilities. Views of professionals from school and postschool services

La transición a la edad adulta y vida activa es un proceso extremadamente complejo para los jóvenes con discapacidad. Para plantear propuestas de actuación que mejoren sus oportunidades de conseguir objetivos relacionados con la inclusión laboral y social en la vida adulta es imprescindible el diagnóstico en profundidad del contexto en que se construyen y desarrollan los procesos de transición. En este artículo se presenta un estudio en el que se ha aplicado el método Delphi con el propósito de obtener datos sobre la adecuación de los servicios o dispositivos que trabajan con jóvenes con discapacidad a lo largo de su proceso de transición a la edad adulta y vida activa, tanto en el escenario escolar como en el postescolar. Se han constituido dos paneles de expertos, uno con profesionales del ámbito educativo y otro con profesionales que trabajan en servicios postescolares. En ambos casos, los ejes temáticos son: visión del proceso de transición, aspectos curriculares y organizativos de los servicios, existencia de itinerarios de apoyo sistematizados, trabajo colaborativo entre profesionales, acciones de orientación con familias, adecuación de las alternativas postescolares, la formación de los profesionales, y coordinación de servicios. El análisis de los cuestionarios permite constatar las principales dificultades percibidas por los expertos en cada uno de los ámbitos y establece líneas básicas de actuación para mejorar los procesos de tránsito, entre las cuales destaca la necesidad de reforzar el papel de los equipos multiprofesionales en la articulación de redes de trabajo interprofesional

La inclusión laboral y social de los jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual : el papel de la escuela = Work and social inclusion of young people with intellectual disabilities : the role of the school

The transition to adult life from the standpoint of inclusion is a complex process, especially for young people with intellectual disabilities. This article analyzes the context of transition processes showing the main relationships and differences of the different scenarios where young people with disabilities develop personal pathways that lead to adulthood. Among these scenarios, the school -the period of compulsory secondary education- plays a key role. Therefore, a specific section is devoted to developing an approach to the role of the school in the construction of bridges that facilitate social and work inclusion. Finally, it presents some major challenges that need to be faced to improve the processes of transition from an inclusive perspective

El compromís cívic i intel·lectual d'Armand Quintana explicat per ell mateix

L’escriptor Armand Quintana i Panedas (Manlleu, 1921 – Vic, 2005) al llarg de la seva vida va desenvolupar una dilatada i extensa trajectòria cultural que fins ara ha estat poc estudiada. A partir de la transcripció fragmentària de l’arxiu sonor Autobiografia i missatge pòstum d’Armand Quintana i Panedas, conservat al fons Fonoteca Històrica Jaume Font de l’Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya, aquest treball analitza la trajectòria de l’autor i, entre d’altres coses, el presenta com a col·laborador actiu de la revista Inquietud (1955-1966), com a professor de català i agitador social i com a membre fundador del Cineclub de Vic, de la revista infantil i juvenil Cavall Fort i de la Delegació d’Òmnium Cultural a Osona.

La administración de las sociedades de capital por sociedades de capital. Valorar la posible responsabilidad solidaria del representante legal-persona física de la sociedad

Aquest treball pretén desenvolupar algunes de les diferents responsabilitats en què pot incórrer el representant persona física de l'administrador persona jurídica d'una societat mercantil.

Ús del Capital Social i la Intel.ligència Competitiva per part de les Universitats en el procés d"adaptació a l"EEES

En la present comunicació s'exposen els resultats del projecte ¿Análisis de los procedimientos de interacción entorno-universidad en el proceso de adaptación e implementación de titulaciones oficiales al EEES" finançat pel Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, en la convocatòria d'Estudios y Anàlisis, 2008. Un dels objectius d'aquest projecte era conèixer, de forma exploratòria, quines eines havien emprat lesUniversitats per tal d'adaptar les seves titulacions al nou EEES, considerant diversosfactors. Entre aquests, l'ús del Capital Social del qual disposen les Universitats, entès tant de d¿una òptica interna com externa. A la vegada, es pretenia analitzar si la Universitat disposa de veritables eines d'Intel·ligència Competitiva per tal d'interpretar adequadament el seu entorn. D'entre diverses conclusions, s'extreu que les Universitats no aprofiten suficientment els contactes que generen amb el seu entorn per tal de potenciar la seva competitivitat i les noves titulacions adaptades a l'EEES.

La història de la llengua contemporània davant les escriptures populars de l'exili

The studies that have been carried out about the history of contemporary Catalan have used, generally, sources coming from literary, intellectual and politician fields. Often, sources from common people have been omitted. However, they are documents which provide a very important proof to notice not only the Catalan vitality but also the level of the application of the current rules. This article proposes to highlight ordinary writings as an object of study that will allow us analyze several aspects related to the history of language and sociolinguistics. The study focuses on the ordinary writings that emerged in the Republican exile in 1939, a capital period in the production of such documents

Human Capital Composition and Economic Growth at a Regional Level

With this paper we build a two-region model where both innovation and imitation are performed. In particular imitation takes the form of technological spillovers that lagging regions may exploit given certain human capital conditions. We show how the high skill content of each region’s workforce (rather than the average human capital stock) is crucial to determine convergence towards the income level of the leader region and to exploit the technological spillovers coming from the frontier. The same applies to bureaucratic/institutional quality which are conductive to higher growth in the long run. We test successfully our theoretical result over Spanish regions for the period between 1960 and 1997. We exploit system GMM estimators which allow us to correctly deal with endogeneity problems and small sample bias.

Appropriate IPRs, Human Capital Composition and Economic Growth

We generalize a standard technology diffusion model by allowing for IPRs regimes to be endogenously defined by the development level of each country. Also we insert differences in the composition of human capital between North (leader) and South (followers) which shape the relative costs of innovation and imitation. Results show how an optimal growth trajectory is found for the follower country which initially imitates and that, once a "threshold development stage" is reached, optimally switches to innovation by fully enforcing IPRs achieving a higher proximity with the technology frontier in the long-run. Other scenarios, such as a premature increase in the enforcement of IPRs or a switch from imitation to innovation at early stages of development of the followers are found to be sub-optimal.