8-month non-use of a language. A case tudy. A longitudinal study of the effects on non use of one of the languages (Spanish) of a German L1 multilingual

Under the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism multilinguals are especially vulnerable to language attrition. It was the aim of the present study to verify if this was the case and to observe whether the different linguistic skills (receptive vs. descriptive) and the different linguistic levels (syntactic, lexical, morphological, etc.) would be affected equally.Data were gathered longitudinally by means of a language test for the subject’s reading, writing, listening and speaking skills as well as her knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Although the overall accuracy remained intact and no proof for attrition in the receptive skills was found, the productive skills - mainly fluency - were shown to have suffered from language attrition. This was demonstrated by an increase in the number of pauses, hesitations, repetitions and self-corrections among others and decrease in the percentage of error-free clauses and decrease in the clause length, in oral and written fluency respectively.

The economic value of reciprocal bilingualism

Some bilingual societies exhibit a distribution of language skills that can- not be explained by economic theories that portray languages as pure commu- nication devices. Such distribution of skills are typically the result of public policies that promote bilingualism among members of both speech commu- nities (reciprocal bilingualism). In this paper I argue that these policies are likely to increase social welfare by diminishing economic and social segmenta- tion between the two communities. However, these gains tend to be unequally distributed over the two communities. As a result, in a large range of circum- stances these policies might not draw su¢ cient support. The model is built upon the communicative value of languages, but also emphasizes the role of linguistic preferences in the behavior of bilingual individuals.

Returns to Foreign Language Skills in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey

Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills.

Rapid Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring Method for Highly Diverse Benthic Communities: A Case Study of Mediterranean Coralligenous Outcrops

Increasing anthropogenic pressures urge enhanced knowledge and understanding of the current state of marine biodiversity. This baseline information is pivotal to explore present trends, detect future modifications and propose adequate management actions for marine ecosystems. Coralligenous outcrops are a highly diverse and structurally complex deep-water habitat faced with major threats in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite its ecological, aesthetic and economic value, coralligenous biodiversity patterns are still poorly understood. There is currently no single sampling method that has been demonstrated to be sufficiently representative to ensure adequate community assessment and monitoring in this habitat. Therefore, we propose a rapid non-destructive protocol for biodiversity assessment and monitoring of coralligenous outcrops providing good estimates of its structure and species composition, based on photographic sampling and the determination of presence/absence of macrobenthic species. We used an extensive photographic survey, covering several spatial scales (100s of m to 100s of km) within the NW Mediterranean and including 2 different coralligenous assemblages: Paramuricea clavata (PCA) and Corallium rubrum assemblage (CRA). This approach allowed us to determine the minimal sampling area for each assemblage (5000 cm² for PCA and 2500 cm²for CRA). In addition, we conclude that 3 replicates provide an optimal sampling effort in order to maximize the species number and to assess the main biodiversity patterns of studied assemblages in variability studies requiring replicates. We contend that the proposed sampling approach provides a valuable tool for management and conservation planning, monitoring and research programs focused on coralligenous outcrops, potentially also applicable in other benthic ecosystems

Impact of Duration of Primary Education on School Enrollment, Graduation and Drop-outs: A Cross- Country Analysis

Using a panel data for non-OECD countries covering the period 1970-2012, this chapter analyzes the impact of the duration of primary education on school enrollment, drop-out and completion rates. The empirical results show that for children in elementary school one ad- ditional grade of primary education have a negative impact on the enrollment rate, while the e ect on drop-outs is positive. Analogously, it is obtained that an additional grade in primary education reduces the enrollment rate in secondary education. These results are in line with the fertility model approach, that is, in developing and underdeveloped countries parents do not have incentive to send children to school given the high perceived economic value of children.

La Incidencia de la helada de 1956 en el olivar de Navata (Alt Empordà, Girona)

In the region of Alt Empordà (Girona), olive groves historically shaped a landscape of high economic value, cultural and environmental although since mid-twentieth century is in sharp decline. One of the municipalities located on the edge of the plana altoampurdanesa that best exemplify this process of abandonment and near disappearance of that crop is Navata. This article analyzes the changes in the olive grove of this municipality in the period 1957-2004, both through the development of mapping land use and land cover level of detail as the analysis of data sources and oral exercise that makes emphasizes the loss of 90% of the existing olive grove in the middle of last century. The frost of February of 1956 was one of the main causes, but not unique. However, both the importance of the olive groves as an identity and conservation of biodiversity as the differential nature of the oil obtained from varieties natives to the area (especially argudell), justify the need to promote policies that will help your recovery

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.

Re-opening the black box in societal metabolism: the application of MuSIASEM to water

In this paper we address the complexity of the analysis of water use in relation to the issue of sustainability. In fact, the flows of water in our planet represent a complex reality which can be studied using many different perceptions and narratives referring to different scales and dimensions of analysis. For this reason, a quantitative analysis of water use has to be based on analytical methods that are semantically open: they must be able to define what we mean with the term “water” when crossing different scales of analysis. We propose here a definition of water as a resource that deal with the many services it provides to humans and ecosystems. WE argue that water can fulfil so many of them since the element has many characteristics that allow for the resource to be labelled with different attributes, depending on the end use –such as drinkable. Since the services for humans and the functions for ecosystems associated with water flows are defined on different scales but still interconnected it is necessary to organize our assessment of water use across different hierarchical levels. In order to do so we define how to approach the study of water use in the Societal Metabolism, by proposing the Water Metabolism, tganized in three levels: societal level, ecosystem level and global level. The possible end uses we distinguish for the society are: personal/physiological use, household use, economic use. Organizing the study of “water use” across all these levels increases the usefulness of the quantitative analysis and the possibilities of finding relevant and comparable results. To achieve this result, we adapted a method developed to deal with multi-level, multi-scale analysis - the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach - to the analysis of water metabolism. In this paper, we discuss the peculiar analytical identity that “water” shows within multi-scale metabolic studies: water represents a flow-element when considering the metabolism of social systems (at a small scale, when describing the water metabolism inside the society) and a fund-element when considering the metabolism o ecosystems (at a larger scale when describing the water metabolism outside the society). The theoretical analysis is illustrated using two case which characterize the metabolic patterns regarding water use of a productive system in Catalonia and a water management policy in Andarax River Basin in Andalusia.

Prevención de los comportamientos sexuales de riesgo en los adolescentes: SIDA, otras enfermedades de transmisión sexual y embarazos no deseados

En la actualidad, los adolescentes son uno de los grupos que por sus características conductuales, cognitivas y sociales, se encuentran en mayor riesgo frente al posible contagio con el VIH. Esta amenaza para la salud y el bienestar de los adolescentes, se ha venido a sumar a otros problemas ya existentes en este colectivo: los embarazos no deseados y las enfermedades de transmisión sexual (ETS), que también se derivan de la no utilización de precauciones en las relaciones sexuales. En este trabajo se exponen diversos factores biológicos, psicológicos (conductuales y cognitivos) y sociales que pueden facilitar, dificultar o impedir los comportamientos sexuales de prevención de los adolescentes, y se revisan y valoran algunas de las intervenciones preventivas realizadas. A partir de esta revisión se argumenta sobre la conveniencia de unificar los programas para la prevención simultánea de los tres trastornos, maximizando de esta forma los recursos disponibles

Efecte de la recurrència dels incendis sobre la vegetació i el sòl a les zones de matollar del Macizo Central Ourensano

El matollar sec europeu format per Erica australis, Erica arborea, Pterosparum tridentatum, Halimium lasianthum i Calluna vulgaris com a espècies predominants és cremat en les serralades del Massís Central de forma repetida durant el pas dels anys. Això ha sigut, tradicionalment, a causa de la necessitat de mantenir-lo transitable per al bestiar, encara que altres circumstàncies s’han afegit actualment a aquesta necessitat, que incrementen el risc d’incendi d’aquesta comunitat, disparant-se el número d’incendis en els últims 30 anys. Sabent això, vam decidir realitzar un estudi a les zones de matollar que trobem al Massís Central situat a la zona del Concello de Villariño de Conso, a Ourense, per conèixer com es comporten les espècies característiques d’aquest tipus d’ecosistema després dels incendis, mitjançant la realització de mostrejos i perfils del sòl. D’aquesta manera hem volgut veure com es desenvolupen les espècies vegetals de matollar al llarg del temps, després de ser cremats. Gràcies a l’estudi hem pogut veure com el matollar observat te unes característiques que li permet sobreviure als incendis i tindre una capacitat de regeneració elevada després de patir aquesta pertorbació. Això es degut a la capacitat per rebrotar d’aquestes espècies arbustives i a la seva competitivitat. També hem vist com a necessari, donar un valor econòmic a la bona conservació de l’hàbitat, per tal de que la població local abandoni pràctiques de gestió forestal nocives, com el foc.

Impacto de las proliferaciones de medusas en la valoración económica ambiental de las playas de Denia (Sudoeste Mediterráneo), Alicante, España

El actual incremento de medusas en las costas mediterráneas, percibido como un factor negativo en la calidad de las playas, supone un factor reductor de la demanda turística en las ubicaciones costeras, sobre todo en aquellas más afectadas por éstas proliferaciones. Debido a que la época de mayor presencia de fitoplacton disponible (principal fuente de alimento de las medusas), relacionada a la alta incidencia lumínica, coincide con la temporada alta de turismo en el verano; las notificaciones de incidencias por picaduras de medusa en esta época son frecuentes. Ejemplo de ello, es el caso de Denia (Alicante, España) donde, desde 2008, se ha detectado un considerable aumento de incidencias sanitarias a causa de picaduras de medusa, paralela a la aparición de la especie invasora de cubomedusa Carybdea marsupialis (Bordehore et al, 2011). En este estudio se ha realizado una valoración económica de la playa como un bien ambiental recreativo, mediante encuestas semi-estructuradas elaboradas por Paulo Nunes (CIESM), aplicadas a una muestra inicial de 300 individuos; y evaluado cual sería el impacto social y económico en la valoración ambiental de Denia, si las proliferaciones de medusa no se estabilizaran. Se ha estimado el valor económico del impacto sicial causado por las bioinvasiones marinas en las playas recreacionistas según Nunes and Van den Bergh (2004) y Nunes and Markandya (2008); el método que también ha sido aplicado en el mismo estudio aplicado en Israel (B. Galil, J. Gowdy and P. Nunes 2012) y en Cataluña (2013, Paulo Nunes, M. Loureiro, L. Piñol, S. Sastre, L. Voltaire). En ambos casos los resultados en el impacto económico son considerables pero menores a los esperados, al igual que en los resultados obtenidos en Denia (Alicante).

Non-conventional water resources in coastal areas: a review of the use of reclaimed water

In an era of increasing concern for limited water resources a wise joint management of conventional and nonconventional water resources must be considered. Water scarcity aggravates in coastal zones which are often characterised by high population density, intense economic activity and tourism; meaning heavy seasonal water demands. The relationships between sea and land-water can also compromise the quality of available freshwater. In this context, the use of non-conventional water increases the availability of water supplies. Non-conventional water resources of low quality could be directed to meet several needs (like watering lawns, washing cars, flushing toilets and cooling systems, among others). Therefore, significantly more potable water would be available to meet human demand for safe water.

The economic relevance of climate variables in agriculture: The case of Spain

We estimate the impact of the different climate variables on the value of Spanish farmland. We distinguish between irrigated and non-irrigated lands and use data on temperature, precipitations, physical and socioeconomic characteristics to measure these effects on farm prices and in the number of hectares of farmland. We conclude presenting the main results of our analysis, region by region, and examining the policies that could be more effective to prevent undesired effects.

An ordinal shapley value for economic environments (Revised version)

We propose a new solution concept to address the problem of sharing a surplus among the agents generating it. The problem is formulated in the preferences-endowments space. The solution is defined recursively, incorporating notions of consistency and fairness and relying on properties satisfied by the Shapley value for Transferable Utility (TU) games. We show a solution exists, and call it the Ordinal Shapley value (OSV). We characterize the OSV using the notion of coalitional dividends, and furthermore show it is monotone and anonymous. Finally, similarly to the weighted Shapely value for TU games, we construct a weighted OSV as well.

An ordinal shapley value for economic environments

We propose a new solution concept to address the problem of sharing a surplus among the agents generating it. The sharing problem is formulated in the preferences-endowments space. The solution is defined in a recursive manner incorporating notions of consistency and fairness and relying on properties satisfied by the Shapley value for Transferable Utility (TU) games. We show a solution exists, and refer to it as an Ordinal Shapley value (OSV). The OSV associates with each problem an allocation as well as a matrix of concessions ``measuring'' the gains each agent foregoes in favor of the other agents. We analyze the structure of the concessions, and show they are unique and symmetric. Next we characterize the OSV using the notion of coalitional dividends, and furthermore show it is monotone in an agent's initial endowments and satisfies anonymity. Finally, similarly to the weighted Shapley value for TU games, we construct a weighted OSV as well.