E-PARTICIPATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE: A CASE STUDY

Together with an extensive review of recent literature in the area of civic participation and drawing upon a series of interviews with citizens of a neighbourhood in a large city that experimented with the use of NICT and Internet in order to reinforce citizen’s participation and voice, this article offers an appraisal of the impact of such an experience. We particularly question whether in their enthusiasm for bringing the use of NICT into politics its advocates really look to increase citizen’s involvement in local policies by allowing them to participate in the outcomes of nearby public issues. A particular concern raised is that local authorities place much less weight on democratic underlying issues and place a high value on political marketing and in the control of technologies involved, expecting higher levels of citizens’ participation by means of a cosmetic exercise. This paper examines structural democratic local issues and uses a field experiment in the neighborhood of a large European city to examine the degree to which the use of Internet impacts local residents, the importance they place on NICT to participate in local issues, and the impact they have for enhancing local democracy and network governance.democracy, e-democracy, e-governance, local government, new information technology

Participatory Democracy in Local Government: An Online Platform in the City of Madrid

In 2015, the local government of the city of Madrid (Spain) introduced an electronic participation system. This initiative stemmed mainly from the social movements that had occupied the squares of many Spanish cities since 2011. As a result of the local elections in 2015, many of those same activists gained institutional power, took citizens’ participation very seriously, and decided to use the possibilities offered by the internet for political and administrative participation. In this article, we seek to assess the impacts of the Madrid city government with the e-democracy experiment – based mainly on establishing an online platform to facilitate citizen participation in political and administrative decision processes. Drawing on qualitative and documental data, our research indicates that whereas the overall aim of the project was to give citizens a say in local policy and decision making, our case study shows that participation was very low since most of the population does not feel concerned by these processes. Indeed, one of our findings showed that citizens’ involvement offline surpassed in some cases their online participation. To identify who is politically active online and offline is a great challenge, to which the promoters of the project did not pay much attention. Although e-participation was meagre in relation to the electoral turnout, the case study also shows that many proposals from the public were incorporated into the local policies, indicating that from a qualitative point of view, e-participation influences decision-making processes. Perhaps local governments should use a more strategic and integrated approach towards the use of electronic technologies to foster and motivate citizens’ involvement in local politics and administration. This more integrated approach should be less dependent on ideological incentives, more institutionalized, and must incorporate citizens’ perceptions and inputs before the introduction of new technologies

Creación de artículos en Wikipedia como herramienta de introducción al concepto de web 2.0 para estudiantes de Comunicación Audiovisual

La comprensión de los conceptos básicos que gobiernan la llamada Web 2.0 es fundamental para los estudiantes de la titulación de Comunicación Audiovisual por lo que comporta de cara a su futuro profesional. La presentación de estos conceptos se puede realizar de forma intuitiva y práctica mediante la elaboración de una experiencia práctica que utiliza como primera herramienta una wiki y, en una segunda etapa, la enciclopedia online Wikipedia. Esta experiencia permite al alumno comprender la sencillez de uso de las aplicaciones 2.0, la capacidad de las mismas para generar contenidos de forma colaborativa y el respeto que exigen las normas establecidas por las comunidades que gobiernan el uso de estas aplicaciones. Un estudio de varias encuestas cumplimentadas por los alumnos antes y después de la experiencia demuestra el interés surgido entre ellos por las aplicaciones 2.0 gracias a la realización de esta experiencia práctica. El diseño de la experiencia en dos fases: una con la herramienta software en entorno local y otra con la misma herramienta pero en un entorno global resulta innovadora y facilita la consecución de los objetivos propuestos.Peer Reviewe

Pleistocene-Holocene P. nigra traces on tufa archives in the Northern Meseta of the Iberian Peninsula

Molds preserved on travertines constitute exceptional species-informative material to reconstruct past vegetation. These are common on the High Ebro region. Here, the fluvial system erosion and karstification of the Mesozoic limestone since the Late Tertiary, origins extensive travertine complexes like the one studied in Tubilla del Agua (Burgos). In this site, three different travertine complexes are observed. The older one is represented by two disconnected edifices incised by the Valoria river. The age of this structure is established between > 300,000 and 240,000 yr BP, as from the U/Th dating on its base and top. The subsequent incision lasted until at least 90,000 yr BP, when another edifice erected upstream on the older one. The second travertine group comprises three platforms aged 60,000 yr BP the lower one, and 18,000 yr BP the middle one. The third travertine group is a lake-barrier complex 12,000 yr BP old, on which Tubilla del Agua was built, and a stratified travertine body that covers the valley bottom 10,000 to 2700 cal yr BP old. Some of the ages of the oldest travertines, and the most modern ones, coincide with the principal travertine formation cycles described by Durán (1996) for Spain. The matrix of precipitated calcium carbonate of all these complexes are rich in plant remain molds (mosses, stems, leaves, cones) of the surrounding flora. Pinus nigra Arnold cone molds have been localized and identified by comparative morphology studies. These remains are of high valuable information about the Pleistocene and Holocene presence of this taxon, in a site where no natural presence can be found today. This work was funded by project CGL2008-06005

Clupiter: a Raspberry Pi mini-supercomputer for educational purposes

© 2024 IEEE. This version of the paper has been accepted for publication. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[Abstract]: The main objective of this work is to bring supercomputing and parallel processing closer to non-specialized audiences by building a Raspberry Pi cluster, called Clupiter, which emulates the operation of a supercomputer. It consists of eight Raspberry Pi devices interconnected to each other so that they can run jobs in parallel. To make it easier to show how it works, a web application has been developed. It allows launching parallel applications and accessing a monitoring system to see the resource usage when these applications are running. The NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) are used as demonstration applications. From this web application a couple of educational videos can also be accessed. They deal, in a very informative way, with the concepts of supercomputing and parallel programming.Clupiter has been supported by grants EDC431C 2021/30 (Xunta de Galicia, Consolidation Program of Competitive Reference Groups) and PID2022-136435NB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/ 1 0.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A wayof making Europe”, EU.Xunta de Galicia; EDC431C 2021/3

Viilun jatkoslinjan käyttöasteen tehostaminen

Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli kartoittaa käyntihäiriötekijöitä Joensuun vaneritehtaan viilu- ja liimausosastolla sijaitsevalla viilun jatkoslinjalla. Tavoitteena oli selvittää viilun jatkoslinjalla häiriötekijät, jotka huononsivat linjan käyttöastetta. Käyttöasteella tarkoitetaan vanerin valmistusprosessissa sitä, kuinka suuren osan kokonaiskäyntiajasta kone toimii tehollisesti. Tutkimusosiossa seurasin prosessin kulkua ja kirjasin ylös linjalla tapahtuneet häiriöt, niiden syyt ja kestoajat. Seurasin myös operaattorin toimintaa kirjaten ylös operaattorin toimet ja niihin käytetyn ajan. Seurantatulokset listasin tapahtuma – ja häiriöaikakaavakkeelle. Tutkimuksen avulla sain selville linjan toiminnassa eniten aikaa vievät häiriötekijät, jotka alensivat sen käyttöastetta. Tutkimuksia analysoimalla pyrin selvittämään suurimmat ongelmat linjalla, minkä pohjalta kehitin erilaisia kehitysideoita. Tuloksia tarkastellaan diagrammeina

Prevalência da Síndrome de Burnout em pessoal de centros de menores: diferenças segundo seu contexto socioprofissional

El objetivo del estudio fue determinar la prevalencia del síndrome de burnout y de sus tres componentes (agotamiento emocional, despersonalización y falta de realización personal) en el personal de algunos centros de menores en España y analizar la capacidad predictiva de diversos factores epidemiológicos y laborales sobre la probabilidad de padecer dicho síndrome. Para ello, se llevó a cabo una investigación cuantitativa de corte transversal en una muestra de 160 profesionales mediante la aplicación de un cuestionario elaborado ad hoc y el Maslach Burnout Inventory. Los resultados obtenidos muestran una incidencia media en agotamiento emocional (40 %) y realización personal (41.2 %), y una baja despersonalización (55.6 %) en el burnout de profesionales de centros de menores. Asimismo, se confirma que la ubicación del centro y la antigüedad son fuentes significativas de variación en el agotamiento emocional, así como el sexo en la despersonalización, y la profesión en la realización personal. En conclusión, la mayor predisposición a sufrir burnout se produce en mujeres solteras y con edades entre los 34 y 43 años, con poca experiencia laboral, contrato fijo, y que trabajan como educadoras o trabajadoras sociales en turnos alternos (mañana o tarde) de los centros ubicados en cascos urbanos.O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar a prevalência da síndrome de burnout e de seus três componentes (esgotamento emocional, despersonalização e falta de realização pessoal) no pessoal de alguns centros de menores na Espanha e analisar a capacidade preditiva de diversos fatores epidemiológicos e profissionais sobre a probabilidade de padecer dessa síndrome. Para isso, realizou-se uma pesquisa quantitativa de corte transversal numa amostra de 160 profissionais mediante a aplicação de um questionário elaborado ad hoc e do Maslach Burnout Inventory. Os resultados obtidos mostram uma incidência média em esgotamento emocional (40%) e realização pessoal (41,2%), e uma baixa despersonalização (55,6%) no burnout de profissionais de centros de menores. Além disso, confirma-se que a localização do centro e a antiguidade são fontes significativas de variação no esgotamento emocional, bem como o sexo na despersonalização, e a profissão na realização pessoal. Em conclusão, a maior pré-disposição a sofrer burnout é produzida em mulheres solteiras, com idade entre 34 e 43 anos, com pouca experiência profissional, contrato fixo e que trabalham como educadoras ou trabalhadoras sociais em períodos alternados (manhã ou tarde) dos centros localizados em centros urbanos.This study is aimed at determining the prevalence of burnout and its three components (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and lack of self-fulfilment) in the staff of juvenile facilities in Spain, and to analyze the predictive capacity of various epidemiological and occupational factors regarding the likelihood of suffering the aforementioned syndrome. For this end, a quantitative cross-sectional research was carried out with a sample of 160 professionals by means of an ad hoc questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The burnout results in juvenile facilities show an average impact of emotional exhaustion (40%) and self-fulfilment (41.2%) and a low depersonalisation (55.6%). Likewise, it is confirmed that the location and the age of the centre are significant sources of variation in emotional exhaustion, as well as gender is in depersonalisation, and profession in self-fulfilment. In conclusion, the greatest predisposition to suffer Burnout occurs in unmarried women aged between 34 and 43, with little work experience, permanent contract and working as social educators or social workers in alternate shifts (morning or afternoon) in urban centres

Cultura y estructura organizacional en los equipos de atención primaria

Tesis doctoral inédita. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública. Fecha de lectura: 29-11-199