Turnout Intention and Social Networks

How can networking affect the turnout in an election? We present a simple model to explain turnout as a result of a dynamic process of formation of the intention to vote within Erdös-Renyi random networks. Citizens have fixed preferences for one of two parties and are embedded in a given social network. They decide whether or not to vote on the basis of the attitude of their immediate contacts. They may simply follow the behavior of the majority (followers) or make an adaptive local calculus of voting (Downsian behavior). So they either have the intention of voting when the majority of their neighbors are willing to vote too, or they vote when they perceive in their social neighborhood that elections are "close". We study the long run average turnout, interpreted as the actual turnout observed in an election. Depending on the combination of values of the two key parameters, the average connectivity and the probability of behaving as a follower or in a Downsian fashion, the system exhibits monostability (zero turnout), bistability (zero turnout and either moderate or high turnout) or tristability (zero, moderate and high turnout). This means, in particular, that for a wide range of values of both parameters, we obtain realistic turnout rates, i.e. between 50% and 90%.

Goierriko garraioaren hobekuntza eta ingurumen inpaktua

[EU]Goierriko eskualdean egun batean burutzen diren bidai guztien %9a bakarrik burutzen da garraio publiko bidez. Hau gertatzearen bizilagunen “aitzakia” nagusia honakoa da: zerbitzua oso txarra da. Niri ordea, ondorengo zalantza datorkit burura: nahiz eta zerbitzua hobea izan, garraio publikoa gehiago erabiliko litzateke? Hau biraka dabilen gurpil zoroa da. Zerbitzua txarra delako ez dabil jende gehiago, baina ez du merezi zerbitzua hobetzea jende gutxi ibiltzen delako. Guzti hau argitzearren eta Goierriko garraio publikoaren hobekuntza sustatzeko zer egin daitekeen aztertzeko garatu da lan hau. Hobekuntza termino hau autobus gehiago jartzearekin erlazionatzen dugu gehienetan, baina nik beste planteamendu bat eman nahi izan diot. Bidaiari gutxi daudenez, ezin dira maiztasun handiz autobusak ezarri, proiektua ez baita bideragarria. Horregatik dagoen zerbitzua, gutxi bada ere, bizilagunei erabat moldatua egotea mahaigaineratu nahi izan dut, bizilagun hauen sentsibilizazioari arreta berezia eskainiz.

Propuesta de intervención de actividad física contra el sedentarismo en lonjas juveniles del barrio bilbaino de Zorrotza

[ES] Con el presente estudio descriptivo se pretende obtener los siguientes objetivos: reunir la mayor bibliografía posible sobre las lonjas juveniles. Conocer estos tipos de espacios y qué actividades son las que se realizan en ellos. Tomando como punto de partida la observación de una lonja ubicada en el barrio Bilbaíno de Zorroza, se analizarán los comportamientos que se dan en estos espacios. Además se pretende ofrecer terminología sobre la juventud de hoy en día y las actividades de ocio en las que participan. Los estudios previos destacan un elevado consumo de drogas seguido de hábitos sedentarios. Al mismo tiempo, se presenta una propuesta de intervención en estos espacios y poder así ofrecer alternativas de ocio contra el sedentarismo a medio y largo plazo. Se espera de este trabajo que nos ofrezca más información sobre las actividades que se realizan en las lonjas juveniles y el tipo de drogas que más se consumen ellas, así como la frecuencia con la que se consumen.

Discriminating languages in bilingual contexts: the impact of orthographic markedness

Does language-specific orthography help language detection and lexical access in naturalistic bilingual contexts? This study investigates how L2 orthotactic properties influence bilingual language detection in bilingual societies and the extent to which it modulates lexical access and single word processing. Language specificity of naturalistically learnt L2 words was manipulated by including bigram combinations that could be either L2 language-specific or common in the two languages known by bilinguals. A group of balanced bilinguals and a group of highly proficient but unbalanced bilinguals who grew up in a bilingual society were tested, together with a group of monolinguals (for control purposes). All the participants completed a speeded language detection task and a progressive demasking task. Results showed that the use of the information of orthotactic rules across languages depends on the task demands at hand, and on participants' proficiency in the second language. The influence of language orthotactic rules during language detection, lexical access and word identification are discussed according to the most prominent models of bilingual word recognition.