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Análisis de la persistencia de síntomas y la calidad de vida al año de un ingreso por COVID-19 y sus posibles factores
No full textCompendi d'articlesEn el momento del inicio del presente trabajo de investigación, se había comenzado a advertir de la presencia de complicaciones médicas y síntomas a largo plazo tras la infección aguda por SARS-CoV-2, lo que más tarde se definiría como Long-COVID. No obstante, aún no se conocía mucho sobre qué síntomas predominaban, su duración y sobre todo qué factores de riesgo existían, tanto dependientes del huésped, relacionados con la propia infección aguda o con su tratamiento. Además, conocer estos aspectos podría ayudar a establecer perfiles clínicos con mayor susceptibilidad de desarrollar Long- COVID, permitiendo a los sistemas de salud anticiparse a su aparición y desarrollar estrategias para disminuir su impacto clínico y mejorar finalmente la calidad de vida de los pacientes. En este contexto, nos proponemos como objetivo principal, describir la presencia de síntomas y la calidad de vida de los pacientes al año de un ingreso hospitalario por COVID-19 y analizar sus posibles factores de riesgo.After the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, warnings began to emerge about the presence of medical complications and long-term symptoms following infection, which would later be defined as Long COVID. However, not much was known about which symptoms predominated, their duration, and, above all, what risk factors existed. In this context, and taking as our study population patients admitted for COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic, we set out to describe the presence of symptoms and the quality of life of patients one year after hospitalization for COVID-19 and its factors.Programa de Doctorat en Ciències Biomèdiques i Salu
A Comprehensive Approach to Language-Related Episodes (LREs) in English-Medium Instruction: Typology, Multimodal Nature, and Lecturers’ Beliefs
No full textDoctorat internacionalThis study explores the use of Language-Related Episodes (LREs) in English-Medium Instruction (EMI) settings: spontaneous moments when attention shifts from content to language. Through a case study of two lecturers in Mechanical Engineering and Business Management at a Spanish university, it draws on audiovisual recordings and interview data. The study explores the LREs’ typologies, multimodal features, and the lecturers’ beliefs on their practices. Findings indicate that LREs are scarce and call for new categories in the classification of LREs, emphasizing their collaborative and context-specific nature. A multimodal lens highlights the significant role of gestures, gaze, and visuals in reinforcing meaning, while lecturers, however, showed partial awareness of their use of multimodality. The study highlights LREs’ potential to address language barriers, improve communication, and support students’ academic and linguistic development in EMI contexts, and thus, advocates for integrating LRE into EMI teacher training to foster alignment between language and content.Programa de Doctorat en Llengües Aplicades, Literatura i Traducci
The 5W question technique and its application to musical language: a proposal for the study of modality
No full textLa técnica de preguntas 5W, también denominada como "Las cinco preguntas clave," es un método de análisis que se emplea para explorar, investigar, entender o sintetizar información de forma eficaz. A través de este artículo nos planteamos la siguiente pregunta de investigación: ¿Cómo podríamos adaptar esta técnica para investigar en el terreno de la formación musical, en concreto, en la modalidad? Nuestro objetivo es conseguir aplicarla en un posible escenario conceptual donde se combine la adquisición de fundamentos teóricos con la consecución de destrezas y habilidades.The 5W questioning technique, also known as the "Five Key Questions," is an analytical method used to effectively explore, investigate, understand, or synthesize information. In this article, we pose the following research question: How could we adapt this technique to research in the field of music education, specifically in modality? Our objective is to apply it in a possible conceptual scenario that combines the acquisition of theoretical foundations with the development of skills and abilities
Mapping energy poverty measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a new global panel dataset
No full textThis paper compiles and presents a global panel dataset of energy poverty policy actions spanning the period March 2020 and March 2021. It builds on the COVID-19 Energy Map that collects policies to ensure the affordability of energy supplies for households during the COVID-19 pandemic. The monthly-frequency dataset is organized in a user-friendly way, allowing not only experts and researchers but also the broader non-expert public, to examine and analyse the month-by-month policy changes across countries. We illustrate the potential use of this dataset by analysing the association between the implemented energy poverty measures and the time people spent at home during the pandemic. The panel dataset is widely applicable for future research, especially as other global or regional datasets pertaining to the early years of the pandemic become available
Three essays in consumption and social dynamics
No full textCotutelaThe Ph.D. thesis dissertation, “Three Essays in Consumption and Social Dynamics,” investigates the underlying determinants of consumer behavior and the influences arising from social norms through a rigorous exploration of social behaviour in distinct yet interconnected domains. The work is structured into three essays that together offer a comprehensive analysis of how individual decision rules, market interdependencies, and reference point drives certain economic, and social outcomes. In the first essay, “Interacting Cobweb Demands” (Co-Authored with Prof. Giorgio Ricchiuti) a dynamic two-good, two-market framework is developed to study consumer choice under uncertainty. Building on the classical cobweb model, the analysis introduces a novel heuristic that integrates the conventional price-minimization motive with an expectation-driven evaluation of intrinsic quality—referred to as the Reference Quality (RQ) price. By incorporating variable consumer quotas and exogenous tariffs, the model captures non-linearities in demand and illustrates how market interconnections can precipitate period-doubling and Hopf bifurcations. These results extend canonical models by demonstrating that the relative weighting between price and quality factors critically influences the stability of market equilibria. The second essay, “Misperception of Norms: Smartphone Use,” shifts the focus to digital consumption patterns. Here, the dissertation employs a randomized control trial (RCT) survey—conducted in collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Center—to investigate how misperceptions about peer usage norms drive the overconsumption of digital devices. The findings reveal that individuals tend to overestimate the typical usage of smartphones while underestimating their own, a bias that reinforces excessive screen time. This evidence underscores the role of normative misperceptions in shaping consumption behavior and highlights the potential for informational interventions to realign individual behavior with actual social norms, thereby mitigating welfare losses associated with digital overuse, which is our main finding at this stage. The third essay, “Aspiration and Effort,” considers the persistence of inequality by linking individual aspirations with the broader structure of social networks. Employing both a historical review of seminal perspectives—from Parsons’ functional theory to Veblen’s emphasis on innate competitive drives (i.e. Pecuniary Emulation), and a novel network game model, this chapter argues that aspirations can be determined as an interplay between exogenous endowments but also by the social interactions. By formalizing this in a quadratic-cost pay-off function with effort effort choice, and network interactions, the analysis provides an early stage theoretical exploration on the enduring mechanisms of inequality, suggesting that both intrinsic motivations and extrinsic social influences jointly shape economic outcomes.Programa de Doctorat en Economia i Empres
A descriptive analysis of cultural references in the Spanish subtitling and dubbing of Indian cinema
No full textThis doctoral thesis adopts the research framework of Descriptive Translation Studies to conduct an empirical, bottom-up analysis of Indian cultural references in translation. It is based on a corpus of 14 Indian feature films originally in Bengali, Hindi and English with subtitled and dubbed versions in Spanish. It thus presents an in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis of coupled pairs of cultural references, examining their various types and the corresponding translation solutions detected. The main research tool consists of an Excel spreadsheet comprising a total of 836 cultural references. The study has a dual objective: firstly, to find out what types of cultural references may be detected in the chosen Indian films and their translated versions, and secondly, to examine the translation solutions adopted in the subtitled and dubbed versions of these references, with the final goal of extrapolating translation norms, or at least, conventions.Programa de Doctorat en Llengües Aplicades, Literatura i Traducci
Evaluation of the effectiveness of a projection-based augmented reality exposure treatment system and study of attentional biases in cockroach phobia using eye tracking.
No full textCompendi d'articles, Doctorat internacionalThis thesis primarily aims to assess the effectiveness of a projection-based augmented reality exposure therapy (P-ARET) for treating cockroach phobia (CP) and to examine attentional biases (AB) in CP using eye-tracking technology. Chapter 1 presents a systematic review focused on AB measured by eye-tracking in specific phobias. Chapter 2 presents validation of a standardized set of animal images, including a representative number of cockroach images, and Chapter 3 reports the results of an experimental study comparing AB in CP versus healthy controls. Chapters 4 to 6 are focused on exploring the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) exposure therapy. Specifically, chapter 4 presents a systematic review focused on the AR for anxiety disorders. Chapter 5 includes a randomized controlled trial (RCT) protocol comparing P-ARET to in vivo and wait-list control conditions, and Chapter 6 presents the preliminary results of this RCT including the assessment of AB change after exposure treatment.Programa de Doctorat en Psicologi
Analysis of the ecological role of urban centers in Europe and North America: The impact of built parkland in richness and abundance of birds
No full textCompendi d'articles, Doctorat internacionalUrban expansion creates new bird habitats, prompting studies on how city elements affect these species. However, the influence of buildings remains under-investigated. This thesis analyzes the ecological role of urban centers in Europe and North America, assessing bird richness and abundance across scales and environmental variables, including buildings. The methodology combined local transect data with regional and international citizen science, analyzed using Excel and R. Findings show birds prefer historical buildings for nesting, and mid-rise buildings (two to four levels) correlate with greater bird richness and abundance. In conclusion, the study emphasizes integrating biodiversity into urban planning, highlighting the ecological value of historical buildings and the need for biodiversity-friendly measures to mitigate habitat loss. The combination of building height and impervious cover better predicts bird diversity than either alone. This work advances landscape ecology by incorporating vertical urban structure into biodiversity models.Programa de Doctorat en Tecnologies Industrials i Material
Unveiling novel mechanisms of neuroimmune modulation: a theragnostic and phytochemical approach using FGA139 and abscisic acid in cellular models
No full textThe bidirectional communication between the central nervous system and the immune system is essential for maintaining homeostasis. Disruptions in this interaction are implicated in the pathophysiology of various neuroinflammatory diseases. In this thesis, the immunomodulatory potential of FGA139, a synthetic molecule with fluorescent properties, and abscisic acid (ABA), a plant-derived phytohormone with reported anti-inflammatory activity, were evaluated. To this end, in vitro cellular models were employed, including microglial, macrophage, and neuron-like cell lines. The results obtained demonstrate that both FGA139 and ABA are able to modulate key inflammatory pathways, albeit through distinct mechanisms. Additionally, FGA139 exhibits theragnostic properties, enabling not only the modulation of inflammatory responses but also the detection of cellular alterations via fluorescence. These findings suggest novel precision therapeutic strategies for the treatment of neuroinflammatory diseases, integrating plant-derived compounds with advanced diagnostic tools.Programa de Doctorat en Ciències Biomèdiques i Salu
Desafíos bioéticos en el pronóstico, diagnóstico y tratamiento de la esclerosis lateral amiotrófica: discriminación por enfermedad avanzada.
No full textDoctorat industrialLa ELA es una patología neurológica degenerativa de etiología desconocida, que afecta a la vía piramidal a lo largo de la primera motoneurona y segunda motoneurona. Produce una degeneración progresiva de las neuronas motoras situadas en la corteza cerebral, tronco del encéfalo y médula espinal, que conduce a una debilidad y a una atrofia progresiva de la musculatura de inervación bulbar, torácica, abdominal y de las extremidades. Produce debilidad muscular, espasticidad, labilidad emocional, atrofia muscular, fasciculaciones, pérdida gradual de la función motora, tetraparesia, tetraplejia, disartria, disfagia e insuficiencia respiratoria. Tiene carácter progresivo y pronóstico nefasto, sin tratamiento y que genera una dependencia absoluta. La ELA es una enfermedad avanzada puesto que genera un daño irreversible, sin tratamiento curativo, múltiples e intensos síntomas, pérdida de la autonomía o fragilidad progresiva y un pronóstico de vida limitado. La ELA genera múltiples y complejos conflictos éticos destacando la discriminación por enfermedad avanzada.Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative neurological disease of unknown origin that affects upper and lower motor neurons, causing progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. In Spain, it affects around 4,000 people. Neuronal degeneration leads to loss of motor function, spasticity, fasciculations, dysarthria, dysphagia, and respiratory failure, eventually progressing to tetraplegia and complete dependence. Its prognosis is unfavorable: only 20% of patients survive beyond 3–5 years after diagnosis. There is no curative treatment, so care must begin early through a multidisciplinary approach aimed at alleviating symptoms and improving quality of life. ALS is considered an advanced disease from the time of diagnosis, given its irreversible progression, emotional impact, and high demand on healthcare resources. In addition, it raises important ethical dilemmas related to communication, autonomy, assisted dying, and discrimination due to advanced disease—a challenge that the upcoming ALS Law seeks to address.Programa de Doctorat en Ètica i Democràci