The effective number of relevant parties : how voting power improves Laakso-Taagepera’s index

This paper proposes a new method to evaluate the number of rel- evant parties in an assembly. The most widespread indicator of frag- mentation used in comparative politics is the ‘Effective Number of Par- ties’(ENP), designed by Laakso and Taagepera (1979). Taking both the number of parties and their relative weights into account, the ENP is arguably a good parsimonious operationalization of the number of ‘relevant’ parties. This index however produces misleading results in single-party ma jority situations as it still indicates that more than one party is relevant in terms of government formation. We propose to modify the ENP formula by replacing proportions of seats by voting power measures. This improved index behaves more in line with Sar- tori’s definition of relevance, without requiring additional information in its construction.Voting power indices; Effective Number of Parties; Party system fragmentation; Relevance; Coalition Formation

Construction identitaire et résilience en réadaptation

Cet article présente le concept de résilience comme réaction à une rupture vécue au cours de l’existence ainsi qu’en relation avec le processus de construction identitaire. Cette réaction est conditionnée par l’interaction entre les caractéristiques intrinsèques de la personne, ses occupations ainsi que des facteurs extrinsèques ou environnementaux. La résilience est présente quand la personne vit un processus de construction identitaire favorable en dépit des obstacles et des ruptures. Elle peut même être renforcée par eux. En réadaptation, la construction identitaire peut constituer une cible d’intervention ancrée dans les composantes porteuses de sens pour la personne. En fonction du modèle du Processus de production du handicap, il est possible d’agir sur une ou plusieurs composantes, soit la personne, l’environnement et la participation sociale ainsi que sur leurs interactions, pour favoriser la résilience et la construction identitaire.This article presents the concept of resilience as a response to a rupture experienced during the existence of a person, in relation with the process of identity construction. This response is conditioned by the interaction between the person’s intrinsic characteristics, his/her social participation, and the environmental factors. Resilience is present when the person experiences a process of identity construction or reconstruction in spite of obstacles and ruptures. He/she can even be strengthened by them. In the rehabilitation process, the identity construction may consist of a target of intervention anchored in the features that are meaningful to the person. According to the Disability Creation Process model, it is possible to intervene on one or several features related to the person, the environment, the social participation, as well as on their interactions, in order to promote resilience and identity construction

Regularity of minimizing maps with values in S2\mathbb{S}^2 and some numerical simulations

International audienc

Effective number of relevant parties

This paper proposes a new method to evaluate the number of relevant parties in an assembly. The most widespread indicator of fragmentation used in comparative politics is the "Effective Number of Parties", designed in 1979 by M. Laakso and R.Taagepera. Taking both the number of parties and their relative weights into account, the ENP is arguably a good parsimonious operationalization of the number of "relevant"parties. This index however produces misleading results in single-party majority situations as it still indicates that more than one party is relevant in terms of government formation. We propose to modify the ENP formula by replacing proportions of seats by voting power measures. This improved index behaves more in line with Sartori's definition of relevance, without requiring additional information (such as policy positions) in its construction. We thus advocate for the use of our "Effective Number of Relevant Parties"in future comparative research

Luxembourg

After one year of interruption that followed three years of elections and referendum,Luxembourgish voters were again invited to the polls, this time to select their localrepresentatives. The local elections confirmed the positive trend of the Christian SocialPeople’s Party (CSV), continued losses for Luxembourg’s Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP)and a stabilization of the other parties. While the issue of identity and language was notat the centre of the local campaign, fears concerning the loss of language and identity dueto economic and population growth (essentially from resident foreigners and commuters)continued to haunt political debates throughout the year. These fears were fuelled by thenew movementWee 2050-Nee 2015that supports the protection of the Luxembourgishlanguage and identity, and the controversies surrounding the new nationality law thatsimplifies the access to the Luxembourgish nationality, the introduction of a bilingualeducation (French and Luxembourgish) in nurseries, and the governmental action plan topromote the Luxembourgish language.Finally,2017 was marked by the adoption of the long-awaited reform of the Council of State and important social reform

Snow spectral albedo at Summit, Greenland: measurements and numerical simulations based on physical and chemical properties of the snowpack

The broadband albedo of surface snow is determined both by the near-surface profile of the physical and chemical properties of the snowpack and by the spectral and angular characteristics of the incident solar radiation. Simultaneous measurements of the physical and chemical properties of snow were carried out at Summit Camp, Greenland (72°36´ N, 38°25´ W, 3210 m a.s.l.) in May and June 2011, along with spectral albedo measurements. One of the main objectives of the field campaign was to test our ability to predict snow spectral albedo by comparing the measured albedo to the albedo calculated with a radiative transfer model, using measured snow physical and chemical properties. To achieve this goal, we made daily measurements of the snow spectral albedo in the range 350–2200 nm and recorded snow stratigraphic information down to roughly 80 cm. The snow specific surface area (SSA) was measured using the DUFISSS instrument (DUal Frequency Integrating Sphere for Snow SSA measurement, Gallet et al., 2009). Samples were also collected for chemical analyses including black carbon (BC) and dust, to evaluate the impact of light absorbing particulate matter in snow. This is one of the most comprehensive albedo-related data sets combining chemical analysis, snow physical properties and spectral albedo measurements obtained in a polar environment. The surface albedo was calculated from density, SSA, BC and dust profiles using the DISORT model (DIScrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer, Stamnes et al., 1988) and compared to the measured values. Results indicate that the energy absorbed by the snowpack through the whole spectrum considered can be inferred within 1.10%. This accuracy is only slightly better than that which can be obtained considering pure snow, meaning that the impact of impurities on the snow albedo is small at Summit. In the near infrared, minor deviations in albedo up to 0.014 can be due to the accuracy of radiation and SSA measurements and to the surface roughness, whereas deviations up to 0.05 can be explained by the spatial heterogeneity of the snowpack at small scales, the assumption of spherical snow grains made for DISORT simulations and the vertical resolution of measurements of surface layer physical properties. At 1430 and around 1800 nm the discrepancies are larger and independent of the snow properties; we propose that they are due to errors in the ice refractive index at these wavelengths. This work contributes to the development of physically based albedo schemes in detailed snowpack models, and to the improvement of retrieval algorithms for estimating snow properties from remote sensing data

The effective number of relevant parties : how voting power improves Laakso-Taagepera’s index

This paper proposes a new method to evaluate the number of rel- evant parties in an assembly. The most widespread indicator of frag- mentation used in comparative politics is the ‘Effective Number of Par- ties’(ENP), designed by Laakso and Taagepera (1979). Taking both the number of parties and their relative weights into account, the ENP is arguably a good parsimonious operationalization of the number of ‘relevant’ parties. This index however produces misleading results in single-party ma jority situations as it still indicates that more than one party is relevant in terms of government formation. We propose to modify the ENP formula by replacing proportions of seats by voting power measures. This improved index behaves more in line with Sar- tori’s definition of relevance, without requiring additional information in its construction