Incertidumbre y empleo. Estrategias, recursos y desigualdades de las redes sociales

Comunicación oral presentada en IV Encuentro Internacional. Teoría y práctica política en América Latina. Nuevas y viejas desigualdades, Universidad de Mar de la Plata (Argentina),9-10-11 de Marzo, 2016Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 69100

Nine mechanisms of job-searching and job-finding through contacts among young adults

Since Granovetter's seminal works, the influence of personal networks on the labour market has attracted widespread attention. This article analyses the role played by contacts in the context of the labour trajectories of young people in Spain, for whom the use of personal networks represents one of the most important job-searching methods. Using narrative data extracted from a life-history grid and ego-network generator, the analysis brings to light nine mechanisms in which personal contacts intervene in job-searching and job-finding in a sample of 90 young people living in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The article emphasizes that contacts play primarily three roles in these processes as informers, employers, or influencers. This distinction offers a renewed framework for the study of networks in the labour market, further complementing the debate on the strength of ties. Using this framework allows me to create a map of the mechanisms that shed light on personal networks as tools with which to deal with labour insecurity and unemployment among young people, thus providing resources that to a large extent reaffirm the objective character of class differences. The article offers innovative insights into how social capital operates in the labour market and helps understand how youth precarity, which is widespread in Spain, is experienced in a relational way

An implementation of the rothermel fire spread model in the R programming language

This note describes an implementation of the Rothermel fire spread model in the R programming language. The main function, ros(), computes the forward rate of spread at the head of a surface fire according to Rothermel fire behavior model. Additional functions are described to illustrate the potential use and expansions of the package. The function rosunc() carries out uncertainty analysis of fire behavior, that has the ability of generating information-rich, probabilistic predictions, and can be coupled to spatially-explicit fire growth models using an ensemble forecasting technique. The function bestFM() estimates the fit of Standard Fuel Models to observed fire rate of spread, based on absolute bias and root mean square error. Advantages of the R implementation of Rothermel model include: open-source coding, cross-platform availability, high computational efficiency, and linking to other R packages to perform complex analyses on Rothermel fire predictions

‘Nothing will ever be the same again’. Personal commitment and political subjectivation in the 20 February Movement in Morocco

Based on an analysis of the stories of engagement of young activists who took part in the 20 February Movement in Morocco, this contribution explores the process of individual transformation that occurred during the experience of activism. We use the concept of political subjectivation to discuss the succession of moments of rupture and re-semanticisation, the new ethical configurations generated by the experience of activism and their long-term consequences. This contribution is part of an ethnographic study that has accompanied the evolution of the protests from 2011, carried out by the two authors first independently and, from 2017, within the framework of the ‘Globally Sensitive: Revolt, Citizenship, and Expectations for the Future in North Africa’ project

‘Nothing will ever be the same again’. Personal commitment and political subjectivation in the 20 February Movement in Morocco

Based on an analysis of the stories of engagement of young activists who took part in the 20 February Movement in Morocco, this contribution explores the process of individual transformation that occurred during the experience of activism. We use the concept of political subjectivation to discuss the succession of moments of rupture and re-semanticisation, the new ethical configurations generated by the experience of activism and their long-term consequences. This contribution is part of an ethnographic study that has accompanied the evolution of the protests from 2011, carried out by the two authors first independently and, from 2017, within the framework of the ‘Globally Sensitive: Revolt, Citizenship, and Expectations for the Future in North Africa’ project.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reflexiones sobre los juegos de azar en la sociedad contemporánea : hacia una biografía del riesgo

Con este articulo proponemos una aproximación teórica de los estudios sobre los juegos de azar (Gambling studies), planteando una mirada cultural hacia un fenómeno que, hoy en día, ha adquirido un carácter masivo. Nuestro objetivo es, precisamente, desvincular el análisis de los aspectos patológicos inherentes al juego problemático -ludopatías- con el fin de captar los aspectos culturales que han determinado el crecimiento exponencial de la industria de los juegos de azar en las últimas dos décadas y que caracterizan las experiencias subjetivas de los jugadores/as no problemáticos en el contexto actual. En el contexto de una economía avanzada, proponemos una reflexión que sepa reconocer en el concepto de riesgo, definido por autores como Ulrich Beck y Antony Giddens, la fuerza motriz de esta enorme expansión del azar en la sociedad contemporánea.With this article we propose a theoretical review of Gambling studies, planning a cultural insight towards a phenomenon, nowadays, massively expanded. Our objective is, precisely, to decouple the analysis from the pathologic aspects inherent in problem gambling - gambling addiction - with the aim to capture the cultural aspects that determined the exponential growth of Gambling industries in the last two decades and characterize the subjective experiences of no problematic gamblers in the current context. In a context of advanced economy, we propose a reflection capable to recognize the concept of risk proposed by Ulrich Beck and Antony Giddens, as a powerful driver of this enormous expansion of Gambling in contemporary society

Interactions between climate, growth and seed production in Spanish black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii) forests in Cuenca Mountains (Spain)

Tree growth is regulated by a combination of exogenous and endogenous factors. Such factors also interact with each other, complicating the understanding of causal links. IN particular, resource allocation is sensitive to reproductive investment, especially in masting species, which in turn is regulated by climatic variables. Both resource allocation and seed production patterns are also sensitive to tree age. This study aims to (1) evaluate the effects of tree age and local and regional climate on tree ring width and seed production by Spanish black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii) forest in Cuenca Mountains (Spain), and (2) assess the relationship between seed production and secondary growth of Spanish black pine. Seed fall was estimated using 60 rectangular seed traps (40 x\u97 50 x\u97 15 cm) from 2000 to 2014, randomly distributed across the study area. Standardized tree-ring chronologies were calculated using a random sample of 106 trees stratified into three age classes (> 80 years; 26-\u80\u9380 years, and < 25 years). Local climate data was obtained from a meteorological station, and regional climate data from the CRU-TS 3.1 dataset. Average seed production ranged over time from 2 to 189 seeds m\u88\u922(coefficient of variation = 157%). We identified four masting years (2000, 2003, 2006, and 2014) using a classification based on percentile seed production. Seed production was regulated by climate of the previous 2-3 years, while tree growth responded to precipitation and temperature in the previous and current year. Independent of climate, high seed production had a negative effect on tree ring width and weakened climate growth relationships, indicating resource depletion. Tree age modulated climate sensitivity, increasing correlations between climate and tree-ring index in older trees. P. nigra has been showed to be a climate sensitive species with a bimodal masting behaviour, which should be taking into account for management purposes and silvicultural guidelines under climate change scenarios