Portal-foro para el aprendizaje de lenguas hispano-japonesas

El trabajo descrito en esta memoria es el resultado de un proyecto de colaboraci��n universitaria entre la Universidad Aut��noma de Bellaterra, la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y la Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus de Jap��n, cuya finalidad es la de ayudar a estudiantes de lenguas japonesa y espa��ola en horas extra escolares a mejorar y practicar sus conocimientos elementales de las lenguas de estudio mediante el empleo de tecnolog��as Web. Se describe aqu�� la plataforma seleccionada para el desarrollo de un foro conversacional y otras utilidades que ayudar�� y reforzar�� a los estudiantes los conocimientos del idioma japon��s suministrados en horarios de clase.

El catal��, llengua d'oci en els joves

Treball de recerca realitzat per una alumna d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit cient����fic del Jovent l'any 2009. Aquest treball de recerca consisteix en una an��lisi de la llengua catalana en l'��mbit de l'oci en els joves. Fent aquesta an��lisi es pret��n arribar a saber quina llengua predomina en l'��s dels joves quan escolten m��sica, llegeixen, miren la televisi��, juguen amb els amics, naveguen per internet, etc.,tamb�� es vol obtenir resultats fiables per saber la situaci�� de la llengua catalana en l'oci d'aquests joves aix�� com les causes i les variables d'aquesta situaci��. A partir d'unes 173 enquestes realitzades al curs de 2n de batxillerat de l'IES Antoni de Mart�� i Franqu��s, s'ha pogut dur a terme aquest estudi. Per fer aquest treball, en primer lloc es va procedir a la lectura de bibliografia relacionada amb la socioling����stica catalana. Despr��s es va analitzar el concepte d'oci, i es va formular una enquesta que pogu��s resoldre els objectius. Un cop fetes les 173 enquestes se'n van codificar i tractar els resultats. A partir de les dades es van fer uns gr��fics tot analitzant-les i aix�� veure la situaci�� real de la llengua catalana. Tamb�� es va comparar aquest treball amb un altre estudi anterior realitzat per l'Institut de socioling����stica catalana. I despr��s d'haver parlat sobre la situaci�� de la llengua catlana entre els joves amb diversos experts en el tema se'n van treure unes conclusions.

Els refranys: estudi i equival��ncies

Treball de recerca realitzat per una alumna d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit cient��fic del Jovent l'any 2009. El treball es divideix en tres grans blocs tem��tics, seguint una seq����ncia l��gica: teoria dels refranys, recull de refranys catalans i els seus equivalents (inclou la creaci�� d un diccionari) i l���aplicaci�� pr��ctica del treball en un lloc web. Dins del bloc te��ric es tracten amb profunditat ��mbits de la fraseologia i la paremiologia (ci��ncia dels refranys i les unitats fraseol��giques) com ara la formaci�� dels refranys, la seva estructura, el seu significat i el seu ��s. Tamb�� s���hi inclou un criteri de comparaci�� de refranys de lleng��es diferents, tenint en compte aspectes com el seu grau d idiomaticitat (possibilitat d���establir el significat d���una unitat pel seu sentit figurat i a la vegada pel seu sentit literal). Cal destacar que l���estudi te��ric dels refranys ��s gaireb�� inexistent en llengua catalana, i que en conseq����ncia l���elaboraci�� d���aquesta part del projecte ha requerit un esfor�� suplementari. En el segon bloc, partint d���un recull de refranys pertanyent al besavi de l���alumna, on hi constaven refranys catalans amb els seus equivalents en franc��s i castell��, s���elabora un diccionari de refranys, explicant el significat d���aquests i afegint-hi l���equivalent en angl��s, i en alguns casos, fins i tot es comenta l���antecedent llat�� del refrany. Per tal de trobar una dimensi�� pr��ctica al nou recull, es procedeix a la creaci�� d���un lloc web, amb la intenci�� de difondre el contingut del diccionari. Aquest seria el tercer bloc que conforma el treball.

Devolution dynamics of Spanish local government

Over the last few years, ther has been a devolutionary tendency in many developed and developing countries. In this article we propose a methodology to decompose whether the benefits in terms of effciency derived from transfers of powers from higher to municipal levels of government "the "economic dividend" of devolution) might increase over time. This methodology is based on linear programming approaches for effciency measurement. We provide anapplication to Spanish municipalities, which have had to adapt to both the European Stability and Growth Pact as well as to domestic regulation seeking local governments balanced budget. Results indicate that efficiency gains from enhaced decentralization have increased over time. However, the way through which these gains accrue differs across municipalities -in some cases technical change is the main component, whereas in others catching up dominates.

Heterogeneity across immigrants in the Spanish labour

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the diferences that immigrants have in the Spanish labour market. Immigrants in Spain come from a diversity of continents (Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, etc.), and there are substantial diferences in characteristics not only among continents but also among countries in each continent. Using a quantile regression method of decomposition we estimate these diferences that are reflected in the labour market and in particular are mirrored in the wage, so some immigrants are more discriminated or segregated that others because they have less advantage. For example Argentineans and Peruvians have the same origin and culture but we can find diferences in the wage that they receive in the Spanish labor market, or for example Moroccans have a advantage with respect to the Rest of Africans, due to the geographical proximity to Spain. So when we study the pay gap and the gender pay gap we need to take into consideration the origin of immigrants. We also want to study how the integration of immigrants evolved across years, whether the wage gap that we find in the first episode of work between immigrants and natives disappears or continues to be present in the Spain labour market.

Language knowledge and earnings in Catalonia

In this paper we are aimed to investigate the relationship between Catalan knowledge and individual earnings in Catalonia. Using data from 2006, we find a positive earning return to Catalan proficiency; however, when accounting for self-selection into Catalan knowledge, we find a higher language return (20% of extra earnings), suggesting that individuals who are more prone to know Catalan are also less remunerated than others (negative selection effect). Moreover, we also find important complementarities between language knowledge and completed education, which means that only more educated individuals benefit from Catalan knowledge.

Testing, not modelling, the impact of cohesion support: a theoretical framework and some preliminary results for the Spanish regions

This paper develops a simple model that can be used to estimate the effectiveness of Cohesion expenditure relative to similar but unsubsidized projects, thereby making it possible to explicitly test an important assumption that is often implicit in estimates of the impact of Cohesion policies. Some preliminary results are reported for the case of infrastructure investment in the Spanish regions.

Language knowledge and earnings in Catalonia

This paper investigates the economic value of Catalan knowledge for national and foreign first- and second-generation immigrants in Catalonia. Specifically, drawing on data from the ���Survey on Living Conditions and Habits of the Catalan Population (2006)���, we want to quantify the expected earnings differential between individuals who are proficient in Catalan and those who are not, taking into account the potential endogeneity between knowledge of Catalan and earnings. The results indicate the existence of a positive return to knowledge of Catalan, with a 7.5% increase in earnings estimated by OLS; however, when we account for the presence of endogeneity, monthly earnings are around 18% higher for individuals who are able to speak and write Catalan. However, we also find that language and education are complementary inputs for generating earnings in Catalonia, given that knowledge of Catalan increases monthly earnings only for more educated individuals.

Is the Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax incompatible with the free movement of workers and capital?: The reasoned opinion of the EU Commission IP/10/513

The aim of my speech is answering to the question if the Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax is incompatible with the free movement of workers and capital. We are going to pay special attention to the European Commission���s request to Spain to change its Inheritance and Gift Tax provisions for Non-Residents or Assets held abroad. In order to answer to the question mentioned above five points will be explained. At first place I am going to describe the infrengement procedure established in the Article 258 that the EU Commission can follow when a Member State doesn���t comply with Community Law. At second place, we are going to explain what is the content of the EU Commission delivered on 5th of may 2010 regarding the spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax. Then, we will analise what establishes the Community Law regarding the freedom of workers and capital and how they are understood by the EU Court of Justice in similar cases. Finally, we are going to provide possible amendments that Spain could undertake.

Prediction of the economic cost of individual long-term care in the Spanish population

Pensions together with savings and investments during active life are key elements of retirement planning. Motivation for personal choices about the standard of living, bequest and the replacement ratio of pension with respect to last salary income must be considered. This research contributes to the financial planning by helping to quantify long-term care economic needs. We estimate life expectancy from retirement age onwards. The economic cost of care per unit of service is linked to the expected time of needed care and the intensity of required services. The expected individual cost of long-term care from an onset of dependence is estimated separately for men and women. Assumptions on the mortality of the dependent people compared to the general population are introduced. Parameters defining eligibility for various forms of coverage by the universal public social care of the welfare system are addressed. The impact of the intensity of social services on individual predictions is assessed, and a partial coverage by standard private insurance products is also explored. Data were collected by the Spanish Institute of Statistics in two surveys conducted on the general Spanish population in 1999 and in 2008. Official mortality records and life table trends were used to create realistic scenarios for longevity. We find empirical evidence that the public long-term care system in Spain effectively mitigates the risk of incurring huge lifetime costs. We also find that the most vulnerable categories are citizens with moderate disabilities that do not qualify to obtain public social care support. In the Spanish case, the trends between 1999 and 2008 need to be further explored.

Effects of Bilingualism on Multi-Word Production

It has been shown that bilinguals are disadvantaged on some language production tasks when compared to monolinguals. The present study investigated the effects of bilingualism on lexical retrieval in single and multi-word utterances. To this purpose, we tested three groups of 35 participants each (Spanish monolinguals, highly proficient Spanish-Catalan and Catalan-Spanish bilinguals) in two sets of picture naming experiments. In the first one, participants were asked to name black-and-white object drawings by single words. In the second one, participants had to name colored pictures with determiner adjectival noun phrases (NP) like ���the red car���. In both sets of experiments, bilinguals were slower than monolinguals, even when naming in their dominant language. We also examined the articulatory durations of both single word and NP productions for this bilingual disadvantage. Furthermore, response onset times and durations of all groups in both experiments were affected by lexical variables of the picture names. These results are consistent with previous studies (Ivanova & Costa, 2008, Gollan et al., 2005) showing a bilingual disadvantage in single word production and extend these findings to multiword-utterances and response durations. They also support the claim that articulatory processes are influenced by lexical variables.

Paraphrasing : scope and typology : a computational approach

This PhD project aims to study paraphrasing, initially understood as the different ways in which the same content is expressed linguistically. We will go into that concept in depth trying to define and delimit its scope more accurately. In that sense, we also aim to discover which kind of structures and phenomena it covers. Although there exist some paraphrasing typologies, the great majority of them only apply to English, and focus on lexical and syntactic transformations. Our intention is to go further into this subject and propose a paraphrasing typology for Spanish and Catalan combining lexical, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic knowledge. We apply a bottom-up methodology trying to collect evidence of this phenomenon from the data. For this purpose, we are initially using the Spanish Wikipedia as our corpus. The internal structure of this encyclopedia makes it a good resource for extracting paraphrasing examples for our investigation. This empirical approach will be complemented with the use of linguistic knowledge, and by comparing and contrasting our results to previously proposed paraphrasing typologies in order to enlarge the possible paraphrasing forms found in our corpus. The fact that the same content can be expressed in many different ways presents a major challenge for Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications. Thus, research on paraphrasing has recently been attracting increasing attention in the fields of NLP and Computational Linguistics. The results obtained in this investigation would be of great interest in many of these applications.

Analyzing complexity in foreign language monologic oral production in a CLIL context

The study tested three analytic tools applied in SLA research (T-unit, AS-unit and Idea-unit) against FL learner monologic oral data. The objective was to analyse their effectiveness for the assessment of complexity of learners' academic production in English. The data were learners' individual productions gathered during the implementation of a CLIL teaching sequence on Natural Sciences in a Catalan state secondary school. The analysis showed that only AS-unit was easily applicable and highly effective in segmenting the data and taking complexity measures

ATiPAP : desenvolupament de materials docents amb suport multimedia pels continguts d'Atenci��, Percepci�� Auditiva i de la Parla adaptats als cr��dits ECTS i a l'EEES dins l'ensenyament de Psicologia

El projecte ha perm��s finan��ar el suport t��cnic necessari per a poder desenvolupar materials informatitzats corresponents a activitats te��rico-pr��ctiques de l���assignatura troncal de la llicenciatura de Psicologia (actualment tamb�� en el Grau) ���Percepci�� i Atenci�����. Els materials desenvolupats corresponen a diferents punts del programa de l���assignatura i s��n els seg��ents: demostraci�� de la t��cnica d���ombrejat per l���an��lisi de l���atenci�� focalitzada; parpelleig atencional en s��ries de presentacions r��pides d���informaci�� visual (RSVP); canvis encoberts de l���atenci�� i el mecanisme d���inhibici�� de retorn; efectes dels filtrats sobre la percepci�� de la parla i la m��sica; il��lusions auditives i els principis d���organitzaci�� de la informaci�� sonora complexa; la percepci�� categ��rica dels sons de la parla i la naturalesa continua del processament l��xic (paradigma d���obertura successiva o gating). Per totes aquelles activitats amb continguts de llenguatge, s���han desenvolupat dues versions equivalents, catalana i castellana, per permetre que els estudiants fessin la pr��ctica en la seva llengua dominant. A la primera fase del projecte, al llarg del curs 2006-07, es van preparar els materials i la programaci�� de les diferents pr��ctiques i es van poder identificar alguns problemes que es van solucionar posteriorment. En el curs 2007-08 totes les activitats de pr��ctiques ja es van fer accessibles als estudiants (Plataforma Moodle, Campus Virtual) i la valoraci�� sobre el seu funcionament, feta pels estudiants mitjan��ant q��estionaris, va ser satisfact��ria en m��s d���un 95% dels casos (els ��nics problemes detectats estaven relacionats amb les caracter��stiques dels ordinadors del usuaris i del navegador utilitzat per accedir als materials). La valoraci�� de les activitats per part dels estudiants va ser globalment positiva i, en el seu ��s continuat al llarg dels cursos 2008-09 i 2009-10, s���ha observat una participaci�� creixent (acc��s voluntari a les activitats) i un aprofitament millor de la informaci�� presentada, que es tradueix en millores en les puntuacions obtingudes en les avaluacions de l'assignatura.

Eina gr��fica per la creaci�� d'aut��mats per a la representaci�� del llenguatge natural

Aquest projecte tracta la implementaci�� d���una eina gr��fica multiplataforma de creaci�� i edici�� de gram��tiques electr��niques per representar el Llenguatge Natural. ��s una eina per ling��istes i projectes com Spanish FrameNet Project amb la quan poden representar f��cilment transductors en un format m��s visual, les transicions es representen en forma de ���caixes���, i guardar els resultats. S���han implementat varies opcions per crear una eina c��mode i personalitzable per l���usuari amb funcionalitats enfocades a les seves necessitats com importar/exportar aut��mats des d���una Expressi�� Regular. Es tracta l���implementaci�� de tots els components que s���han necessitat per crear la GUI aix�� com la seva funcionalitat.