The topic of my thesis is to study the complex reconstruction of the locomotive servicing depot Praha Liben. The locomotive depot is both operational maintenance and repair trains. The section reconstruction begins in turnout number 1, the whole area locomotive depot will be reconstructed. The main task is to propose an exchange of stepped old construction turnout for turnout new one in the whole area of the depot. The total number of changed points is 27. Depot demolition tasks in order to extend the track number 10 on the minimum usable effective length of 105 meters is the other task. Establishment of two dead-end tracks number 15 and 17 will be extend to an effective length of 105 metres. Retaining wall with PU componentsis designed along track 17. The next task is to solve the drainage area. The area will be drained interconnected system drains into the sewer and trench walls.

Author´s name: Bc. Jan Hajniš School: Technical University - VUT, Brno Faculty of Civil Engineering Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno Program: Construction and Transportation Engineering Title: The Analysis of dynamic effects acting on the turnout with a focus on structural condition Consultant: Prof. Ing. Jaroslav Smutný, Ph.D. Number of pages: about 100 + attachments Number of attachments: about 340 Year: 2014 This work describes the size and the process of dynamic effect – vibrations and shift – cockles in crossing panel and switch panels of the turnout constructions on steel and concrete sleepers in time and frequency domain. It compares the results of the measurement between these turnout constructions. Dynamic effects are undesirable physical phenomena for operation each train. It is therefore necessary to eliminate these phenomena as much as possible. The result of this test will by means of software programm and measuring set help to determine precisely the advantages and disadvantages of using both turnout constructions, or even to propose their improvements or dimensions.

The aim of this graduate thesis is proposing an optimization of the likely voter model parameter values utilized by Median (research agency) based on secondary analysis of data from the third wave and post-election follow-up of the Czech Household Panel Study 2017 and the Median omnibus survey. The theoretical chapter presents selected aspects of the analyzed likely voter model parameters. Secondary data analysis confirms hypotheses regarding the relationships of: 1) voter turnout, prior voting behavior and the intent to vote, 2) pre-election voting preferences and actual voting behavior, 3) reported prior voting behavior and time elapsed since the prior election. Hypotheses are confirmed, and analysis results are utilized in construction of an optimized likely voter model. This model's results are then compared to the results of four currently or formerly published likely voter models (MEDIAN, CVVM2017, CVVM2018, KANTAR), all computed using an identical dataset (September/October 2017 Median omnibus survey). Based on prior-set comparison criteria, the proposed model has the highest ranking out of all the compared models. Areas of future research proposed, namely exploring the relationship between prior voting behavior misreporting and voting preference trends, in accordance with cognitive...

Diploma thesis "True reasons which lead people into polling station" is tasked to detect motivation which affects an electoral behaviour of citizens, concretely their active participation in an election of their political representatives, considering the matter of fact that elected incumbents are those who work out all measures of public policy. There is enforced the legitimizing character of election, which displays the decreasing voter turnout as pathological phenomenon destroying the basics of democratic society, and sight on elections as an institution mediating between citizens and shape of implemented public policy. The theoretical part of thesis gives an overview of various concepts interpreting a voter turnout as an effect of endogenous and exogenetic factors. The paradigm are the theory of sources and the theory of representation, accenting on importance of the endogenous factors, and contextual theory, theory of motivation and racional choice theory, referring to key influence of the exogenic element. The empirical part of thesis, making use of personal research, verifies practically the theoretical knowledge and produces factual predication about motivational elements of electoral behaviour in one municipality in district of Hradec Králové. The confrontation of theoretical knowledge and...

The diploma paper represents a contribution to the research of direct democracy in the Czech Republic, specifically it deals with the most used form of direct citizen participation in governance, local referendum. The paper is mainly empirical - it shows an experience of ten European countries with local referendum as well as the legislative framework and the definition of this instrument in the Czech Republic. The centre point of the whole thesis lies in the real practice and the experience of Czech municipalities with local direct democracy. The data used in this paper come up from research which aimed to collect information on all local referendums in the Czech Republic since 1990. Although this aim has not been fully accomplished, the data allow to study the practice of Czech local referendums. Local referendums are divided into several groups (categories of territorial changes, the environment, issues of internal governance of the municipality and others) within which are further analysed. The aim of the paper is to verify the hypothesis that seeks a relationship among the size of the municipality, subject of voting, quorum and voter turnout. The paper also focuses on the factors that have got fundamental impact on the final result of referendum.

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This research explains the variance in voter turnout and ballot roll-off in county and circuit nonpartisan judicial elections in Florida from 2014 and 2016. Based on theory, a collection of constituent (demographic and socioeconomic), candidate, competition, and contextual variables is gathered to construct four regression models. Two full regression models were constructed for turnout and roll-off and analyzed using SPSS software, in addition to two best regression models analyzing five statistically significant variables found within each full model. Presidential year elections and higher populations age 65 and up had positive impacts on voter turnout, while primary elections, campaign expenditures, and populations of minor (other) party registered voters had statistically significant negative effects on turnout. Increases in ballot roll-off were associated with presidential year elections, and populations with more college degrees, higher median household income, and higher percentages of voters registered with no party affiliation or minor political parties. Roll-off decreased in primary elections. While various contextual, competition, and constituent variables had significant impact on both turnout and roll-off in Florida judicial elections, candidate characteristic variables had no significant impact on differences in voter turnout and ballot roll-off.

This thesis deals with the applicability of Anthony Downs rational choice theory to the Czech environment, respectively the utility of its model to explain voter turnout and identification of rationality among Czech voters. First part provides theoretical foundation of work, explanation of basic concepts from which the work draws and alternative theories to the research problem. It also presents current state of society in terms of policy perceptions, and participation in elections. The core of the work is to present Downs' rational choice theory, different views on it and its possible extension in terms of criticism. The basic variables introduced are here, in particular how are percieved by various authors, what is their content and what affects them. In the analytical part, the variables are examined within the reserach aims in terms of frequency in the population and individual segments of the electorate. The primary parameters of the rational choice theory model are then tested in terms of interdependence, and in terms of their significance in the model and their influence on voter turnout. The conclusion summarizes the research results, and demonstrates evaluation of the applicability of the model to the Czech voters, the relevance of individual variables representing the rational choice...

Perseguendo politiche comuni per gli Stati membri, l'Unione Europea si è trasformata da unione puramente economica ad unione politica. Tuttavia, per quanto riguarda quest'ultimo aspetto, è stato fatto poco. Lo scetticismo è venuto a caratterizzare il clima politico dell'Unione Europea e l’elevata eterogeneità nei termini degli Stati membri hanno causato difficoltà nel processo decisionale. Questa tesi si concentra sulle politiche europee da tre aspetti: la legittimità, che si riferisce al sostegno politico dei cittadini, il comportamento di voto e di partecipazione dei cittadini. Una delle questioni principali della ricerca riguarda l’esistenza delle basi per la genesi di veri e propri partiti politici europei, come via d’uscita dalla crisi di legittimità dell'Unione Europea. Ci si chiede poi quali sono i principali fattori che influenzano la partecipazione alle elezioni del Parlamento Europeo, dal momento che esso è l'unica fonte diretta di legittimità. Infine, si studiano le cause del gap in affluenza per le elezioni europee e nazionali, guardando la quota di voto del partito. L'argomento principale per l’esistenza dei partiti pan-europei è quello di difendere gli stessi interessi e valori su scala europea. I risultati empirici sottolineano che la polarizzazione di classe sociale, è già presente nei primi 12 Stati membri dell'UE, e anche nei nuovi Stati membri, mentre nelle elezioni del Parlamento europeo gli elettori votano sinceramente. In conclusione: l'Europa soddisfa la base per la creazione di partiti pan-Europei che difendino vere e proprie politiche europee, mirate ai gruppi sociali che rappresentano, come una possibile soluzione per la crisi di legittimità. / By pursuing common policies for its Member States, the European Union moved from being a purely economic union, to being a political one as well. However, little has been done to tackle the latter aspect. Skepticism has come to characterize the political climate of the European Union and high heterogeneity in terms of Member States has induced difficulties in the decision-making process. This thesis focuses on the European Politics from three aspects: legitimacy, which refers to citizens’ political support, voting behavior and turnout. One of the main research questions we address is whether or not the basis for the existence of true European party politics exists, as a way out of the European Union legitimacy crisis. Then, we ask what are the main factors that influence electoral participation in the European Parliament elections since it is the only source of direct legitimacy. Lastly, we investigate what are the causes for the turnout gap across European and National elections, looking at the party vote share. The main argument for pan-European to exist is to defend the same values and interests European-wide. Empirical results point out that social class's polarization already exists in the initial 12 EU Member States, as well as later entries, while in the European Parliament elections voters cast their vote sincerely. We conclude that Europe fulfils the base requirement for the creation of true European politics, party politics and social groups' targeted-policies being a possible solution for the legitimacy crisis.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au lien qui existe entre le système électoral et deux comportements importants de la vie civique, soit la participation à une élection et la désertion stratégique du candidat préféré vers un autre candidat. Ces thèmes sont abordés dans de nombreux et de très importants ouvrages en science politique. En passant par la théorie (Downs, 1957) jusqu'à des études de terrain par l'entremise de sondages (Abramson, 2010; Blais, 2010), diverses méthodologies ont été employées pour mieux expliquer les choix des électeurs. Ma contribution à l'avancement des connaissances dans ce domaine passe par l'usage de la méthode expérimentale pour mieux saisir les similitudes et différences dans les comportements des électeurs sous le système uninominal à un tour (UT) et la représentation proportionnelle (RP) ainsi que les mécanismes au niveau individuel qui produisent ces similitudes et différences. Le cœur de la thèse est composé des trois articles dont voici les résumés : Article 1. Des élections expérimentales faites à Montréal, Paris et Bruxelles permettent d'estimer l’influence directe du mode de scrutin sur la décision des électeurs de voter ou non, et de voter pour leur parti préféré ou non. En tout, 16 groupes de 21 électeurs votent sous différents systèmes électoraux, soit le UT et la RP. Les préférences sont attribuées aléatoirement et connues de tous les participants. Nos résultats indiquent que le vote n'est pas globalement plus sincère et que la participation électorale n'est pas plus élevée sous le système proportionnel. Toutefois, nous observons moins de désertion d'un petit parti sous le système proportionnel. Article 2. Les expériences permettent également d'expliquer pourquoi les électeurs votent parfois pour un parti autre que leur parti préféré. La conclusion principale est que la décision de voter de façon sincère ou non est influencée par les préférences individuelles, mais aussi par les perceptions des chances de gagner des candidats ainsi que des chances que son propre vote puisse décider le résultat de l'élection. Les électeurs qui désertent leur premier choix prennent en considération quel candidat est le plus près de leurs positions politiques, mais également de la viabilité de cette alternative. De plus, les électeurs qui aiment prendre des risques ont davantage tendance à déserter. Article 3. Le modèle de l'électeur pivot est mis à l'épreuve pour mieux comprendre la décision de voter ou non lors d'une élection. Nos expériences permettent de répliquer, avec un devis expérimental différent, les résultats importants des travaux de Duffy et Tavits (2008). Nos résultats confirment que la perception d'être pivot augmente la participation, que ces perceptions sont sujettes à la surestimation et que cette surestimation ne décline pas complètement dans le temps. Nous allons également plus loin que les recherches de Duffy et Tavits et nous trouvons que la participation n'est pas plus forte sous RP que sous UT et que la probabilité d'être pivot a un impact plus important chez les électeurs évitant de prendre des risques. / This thesis focuses on the relationship between the electoral system and two important behaviors of civic life: participation in an election and the strategic desertion of the preferred candidate. These topics are addressed in very important books in political science. From theory (Duverger, 1954; Downs, 1957) to empirical research using surveys (Abramson, 2010; Blais, 2010), various methodologies have been used to better explain voter's choices. My contribution to knowledge is the use of experimental methods to better understand both similarities and differences in voter behavior under the plurality system (PLU) and the proportional representation (PR) system and the individual level mechanisms that produce these similarities and differences. The core of the thesis consists of three articles summarized below: Article 1. Experimental elections conducted in Montreal, Paris and Brussels estimate the direct influence of the voting system on the voters' decision whether to vote or not, and vote for their preferred party or another party. In all, 16 groups of 21 voters take part in elections under different electoral systems. The systems are simple plurality and proportional representation. Preferences are randomly assigned and known by all participants. Our results indicate that voting is globally not more sincere and that voter turnout is not higher under the proportional system. However, we observe less desertion of small parties under the proportional system. Article 2. We perform a laboratory experiment to explain why voters sometimes vote for a party other than the preferred one. The main conclusion of the paper is that in addition to voter preferences, perceptions of winning chances and belief in the possibility of affecting the outcome are key factors in the voter’s decision to vote sincerely or not. When they desert their first choice, voters consider their preferences and the viability of the alternatives. Voters who like to take risks are more prone to desert. Article 3. This paper examines the decision to vote or not in experimental elections. We replicate the important findings of Duffy and Tavits (2008) with a different design. Our results support their finding, that is, turnout is affected by the belief that one's vote counts and overestimation of the probability that one's vote counts does not decrease completely over time. Going beyond previous research, we also find that turnout is not higher under a proportional system than under a plurality system, and beliefs about being in a pivotal disposition have a greater impact on turnout among the risk averse.