Party system institutionalization and the quality of democracy in eastern Europe

Almost two decades have passed since the Third Wave of democratization brought an avalanche of new, relatively unstable democracies into being in Eastern Europe. Although democracy and a market economy seem to have taken firm root, at least for the ten Eastern European countries currently members of the European Union (EU), in the light of the complicated post-communist legacy, this may have not been enough time for their political parties and party systems to institutionalize. Moreover, a well-rehearsed litany of complaints has been recited against the countries in the region encompassing, inter alia, weak governability and accountability, a representation deficit; corruption and clientelism, populism, and threats to democratic stability; raising once again the question, "How important the former (i.e. political parties and party systems) are for the quality of democracy?

Alteración de los monumentos graníticos en la provincia de La Coruña: datos preliminares

[Resumen] Se estudian una serie de edificios monumentales de la provincia de la Coruña construidos con materiales graniticos distribuidos por todo su territorio, tanto en el interior como en la zona costera. El objeto del trabajo es el de evaluar el estado de alteración de dichos edificios y conocer las principales causas y mecanismos que la producen Se ha encontrado que presentan diferentes formas de alteración según la parte del edificio que se considere y el tamaño de grano del material.[Résumé] On á etudié une serie de batiments monumentales á la province de la Coruña construits avec des materiels granitiques distribués dans tout le territoire tant al'interieur cornme á la zone de la cote. L'objet du travail c'est l'evaluation de l'etat d'altération de ces batiments et connaitre les principaux motifs et mechanismes qui la produissent. On á trouvé qu' ils pr~sent differents formes d'alteration selon la part du batiment qu' on considere et la grandeur des grains du materiel

Commercial yeast utilization and genetic structure of vineyard-associated Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations revealed by microsatellite analysis

Since the beginning of the 1980’s, the use of active dried Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast starters has been extensively generalised. Today, the majority of wine production is based on the use of active dried yeast, which ensures rapid and reliable fermentations. The behaviour of these yeasts in the ecosystem of the vineyard is totally unknown as is their potential impact on the natural microflora. The aim of the present study was to evaluate populational structures among fermenting S. cerevisiae populations and to assess the impact of active dry yeast usage on the genetic structures of the vineyard microflora. Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolates were obtained from fermentations with grapes from three vineyards of the Vinho Verde Region where commercial yeast strains were used continuously during the last years. Populational genetic analysis was based on six polymorphic microsatellite loci in 361 isolates. Accumulation of small allele-frequency differences across six loci in groups of strains allowed the identification of populational structures. The continuous use of active dry yeast has a very limited impact on the genetic structure of the vineyard microflora. Correlation of genetic differentiation with the distance between sampling points suggested a pattern of isolation-by-distance, where genetic divergence in a vineyard increased with size.Financially supported by the programs POCI 2010 (FEDER/FCT, POCTI/AGR/56102/2004) and AGRO (ENOSAFE, Nº 762)

Phase Transitions and Adsorption Isotherm in Multilayer Adsorbates with Lateral Interactions

We analyze here a model for an adsorbate system composed of many layers by extending a theoretical approach used to describe pattern formation on a monolayer of adsorbates with lateral interactions. The approach shows, in addition to a first order phase transition in the first layer, a transition in the second layer together with evidence of a "cascade" of transitions if more layers are included. The transition profiles, showing a staircase structure, corroborate this picture. The adsorption isotherm that came out of this approach is in qualitative agreement with numerical and experimental results.Comment: Submited to Physica A, LaTex, 22 pgs, 6 figure

It’s been mostly about money!: a multi-method research approach to the sources of institutionalization

Although much has been written about the process of party system insti- tutionalization in different regions, the reasons why some party systems institutionalize while others do not still remain a mystery. Seeking to fill this lacuna in the literature, and using a mixed-methods research approach, this article constitutes a first attempt to answer simultaneously the following three questions: (1) What specific factors help party systems to institutio- nalize (or not)? (2) What are the links (in terms of time and degree) as well as the causal mechanisms behind such relationships? and (3) how do they affect a particular party system? In order to do so, this article focuses on the study of party system development and institutionalization in 13 postcommunist democracies between 1990 and 2010. Methodologically, the article innovates in five respects. First, it continues the debate on the importance of ‘‘mixed methods’’ when trying to answer different research questions. Second, it adds to the as yet brief literature on the combination of process tracing and qualitative comparative analysis. Third, it constitutes the first attempt to date to use a most similar different outcome/most different same outcome pro- cedure in order to reduce causal complexity before undertaking a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis. Third, it also shows the merits of combining both congruence and process tracing in the same comparative study. Finally, it also develops a novel ‘‘bipolar comparative method’’ to explain the extent to which opposite outcomes are determined by reverse conditions and conflicting intervening causal forces

Identification of wine related yeast species by capillary electrophoresis single- strand conformation polymorphism

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - POCI 2010; POCTI/AGR/56102/2004.FEDER.AGRO (ENOSAFE, Nº 762)

Identification of wine related yeast species by capillary electrophoresis single strand conformation polymorphism analysis (CE-SSCP) of the 26S rRNA Gene

Financially supported by the programs POCI 2010 (FEDER/FCT, POCTI/AGR/56102/2004, POCTI/AGR/56771/2004), and AGRO (ENOSAFE, Nº 762)

A novel reputation system for mobile app stores using blockchain

With thousands of mobile applications submitted to online application stores, the mobile application market has experienced significant growth. This growth is accompanied by an increase in malware presence. A possible solution would be to leverage those reports across all mobile ecosystems, creating a shared reputation system.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio