Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee Recommendations and Approval of Cancer Drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration.

PubMed

Tibau, Ariadna; Ocana, Alberto; Anguera, Geòrgia; Seruga, Bostjan; Templeton, Arnoud J; Barnadas, Agustí; Amir, Eitan

2016-06-01

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committees influence decisions relating to the regulatory approval of drugs in the United States. Outside of the field of oncology, prosponsor voting bias has been observed among members with financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs). To explore factors associated with Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommendations and the influence ODAC members' FCOIs on the drug approval process. Retrospective analysis of 82 ODAC meeting transcripts between January 2000 and December 2014. Analysis was restricted to meetings at which votes were cast relating to oncologic drugs. The influence of methodology of trials supporting approval and frequency and type of self-reported FCOIs of voting members was explored using logistic regression. ODAC recommendation for drug approval and subsequent FDA approval. Eighty-two transcripts of ODAC meetings between January 2000 and December 2014 were available for analysis. During the time period analyzed, ODAC members voted on 68 applications in 79 meetings (the remaining 3 meetings included voting questions regarding postmarketing safety or trial design). There was agreement between ODAC recommendations and final FDA approval; FDA approval was received for all 41 drugs that ODAC recommended approval. Additionally, the FDA approved 7 out of 41 agents that were not recommended for approval by ODAC (κ = 0.83). In 51 of 79 meetings, more than 1 trial was available to support the indication of a particular drug, and favorable ODAC recommendations were more likely when this was the case (odds ratio [OR], 1.82; 95% CI, 1.19-2.78; P = .01). Availability of randomized data did not appear to be important with selected single-arm phase 2 trials leading to recommendations for approval, especially in rare diseases. There has been a significant reduction in FCOIs over time (31 of 77 voting members [40%] in 2000 vs 0 of 20 voting members in 2014 [0%]; P < .001). Recommendations for approval were made in 28 of 47 meetings with members reporting FCOIs while among meetings with no reported FCOIs, recommendations for approval were made in 13 of 35 meetings (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.97-1.46; P = .10). No significant association between ODAC recommendations and FDA approval was observed for members with FCOIs with the sponsor (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 0.97-1.46; P = .19 and OR, 3.48; 95% CI, 0.84-14.35; P = .09, respectively) compared with members with FCOIs with competitors (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.78-1.44; P = .72 and OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.69-1.28; P = .69, respectively). Availability of multiple trials is associated with higher odds of ODAC recommendation and drug approval. Availability of randomized data appears less important. Declaration of FCOIs among ODAC members was frequent during the time period of interest but has decreased significantly over time. There is no apparent association between FCOIs and ODAC recommendations and subsequent FDA approval.

Sophisticated Approval Voting, Ignorance Priors, and Plurality Heuristics: A Behavioral Social Choice Analysis in a Thurstonian Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regenwetter, Michel; Ho, Moon-Ho R.; Tsetlin, Ilia

2007-01-01

This project reconciles historically distinct paradigms at the interface between individual and social choice theory, as well as between rational and behavioral decision theory. The authors combine a utility-maximizing prescriptive rule for sophisticated approval voting with the ignorance prior heuristic from behavioral decision research and two…

12 CFR 239.22 - Charter amendments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... this part, shall be approved at the time of adoption, if adopted without change and filed with the... shares may be issued from time to time as authorized by the board of directors without further approval... of a series of capital stock to vote as a separate class or series or to more than one vote per share...

The Effects of Print Comparative Political Advertising on Political Decision-Making and Participation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinkleton, Bruce E.

1998-01-01

Examines intended and unintended effects of print comparative political advertising on political decision making, voting preferences, and situational election involvement among a sample of communication and business undergraduate students. Suggests that comparative advertising reduces targeted-candidate voting preferences while avoiding most forms…

28 CFR 51.18 - Federal court-ordered changes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED General Provisions § 51.18 Federal court-ordered changes. (a) In general. Changes affecting voting for which approval by a Federal court is... preclearance. For example, voting precinct and polling changes made necessary by a court-ordered redistricting...

77 FR 47442 - BlackRock Preferred Partners LLC, et al.; Notice of Application

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-08

... section 18(i) of the Act because each class would be entitled to exclusive voting rights with respect to... registered management investment company will be a voting stock and have equal voting rights with every other.... Applicants submit that the proposed allocation of expenses and voting rights among multiple classes is...

76 FR 56840 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change To...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... respective voting rights and of Class A and Class B common stock, (iv) setting forth certain limitations on... Incorporation, shares of Non-Voting Common Stock possess the same rights, preferences, powers, privileges...-Voting Class B Common Stock. Except for voting rights and certain conversion features, as described below...

Brain indices of disagreement with one’s social values predict EU referendum voting behavior

PubMed Central

Sirota, Miroslav; Materassi, Maurizio; Zaninotto, Francesca; Terry, Philip

2017-01-01

Abstract Pre-electoral surveys typically attempt, and sometimes fail, to predict voting behavior on the basis of explicit measures of agreement or disagreement with a candidate or political position. Here, we assessed whether a specific brain signature of disagreement with one’s social values, the event-related potential component N400, could be predictive of voting behavior. We examined this possibility in the context of the EU referendum in the UK. In the 5 weeks preceding the referendum, we recorded the N400 while participants with different vote intentions expressed their agreement or disagreement with pro- and against-EU statements. We showed that the N400 responded to statements incongruent with one’s view regarding the EU. Crucially, this effect predicted actual voting behavior in decided as well as undecided voters. The N400 was a better predictor of voting choice than an explicit index of preference based on the behavioral responses. Our findings demonstrate that well-defined patterns of brain activity can forecast future voting behavior. PMID:28981799

A bill to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.

THOMAS, 113th Congress

Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND

2014-05-01

Senate - 11/18/2014 Under the order of 11/12/14, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, failed of passage in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 59 - 41. Record Vote Number: 280. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Failed SenateHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Social voting advice applications-definitions, challenges, datasets and evaluation.

PubMed

Katakis, Ioannis; Tsapatsoulis, Nicolas; Mendez, Fernando; Triga, Vasiliki; Djouvas, Constantinos

2014-07-01

Voting advice applications (VAAs) are online tools that have become increasingly popular and purportedly aid users in deciding which party/candidate to vote for during an election. In this paper we present an innovation to current VAA design which is based on the introduction of a social network element. We refer to this new type of online tool as a social voting advice application (SVAA). SVAAs extend VAAs by providing (a) community-based recommendations, (b) comparison of users' political opinions, and (c) a channel of user communication. In addition, SVAAs enriched with data mining modules, can operate as citizen sensors recording the sentiment of the electorate on issues and candidates. Drawing on VAA datasets generated by the Preference Matcher research consortium, we evaluate the results of the first VAA-Choose4Greece-which incorporated social voting features and was launched during the landmark Greek national elections of 2012. We demonstrate how an SVAA can provide community based features and, at the same time, serve as a citizen sensor. Evaluation of the proposed techniques is realized on a series of datasets collected from various VAAs, including Choose4Greece. The collection is made available online in order to promote research in the field.

A social choice-based methodology for treated wastewater reuse in urban and suburban areas.

PubMed

Mahjouri, Najmeh; Pourmand, Ehsan

2017-07-01

Reusing treated wastewater for supplying water demands such as landscape and agricultural irrigation in urban and suburban areas has become a major water supply approach especially in regions struggling with water shortage. Due to limited available treated wastewater to satisfy all water demands, conflicts may arise in allocating treated wastewater to water users. Since there is usually more than one decision maker and more than one criterion to measure the impact of each water allocation scenario, effective tools are needed to combine individual preferences to reach a collective decision. In this paper, a new social choice (SC) method, which can consider some indifference thresholds for decision makers, is proposed for evaluating and ranking treated wastewater and urban runoff allocation scenarios to water users in urban and suburban areas. Some SC methods, namely plurality voting, Borda count, pairwise comparisons, Hare system, dictatorship, and approval voting, are applied for comparing and evaluating the results. Different scenarios are proposed for allocating treated wastewater and urban runoff to landscape irrigation, agricultural lands as well as artificial recharge of aquifer in the Tehran metropolitan Area, Iran. The main stakeholders rank the proposed scenarios based on their utilities using two different approaches. The proposed method suggests ranking of the scenarios based on the stakeholders' utilities and considering the scores they assigned to each scenario. Comparing the results of the proposed method with those of six different SC methods shows that the obtained ranks are mostly in compliance with the social welfare.

Quantitative Analysis of Strategic Voting in Anonymous Voting Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Tiance

2016-01-01

Democratically choosing a single preference from three or more candidate options is not a straightforward matter. There are many competing ideas on how to aggregate rankings of candidates. However, the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem implies that no fair voting system (equality among voters and equality among candidates) is immune to strategic…

Powerful Voter Selection for Making Multistep Delegate Ballot Fair

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamakawa, Hiroshi

For decision by majority, each voter often exercises his right by delegating to trustable other voters. Multi-step delegates rule allows indirect delegating through more than one voter, and this helps each voter finding his delegate voters. In this paper, we propose powerful voter selection method depending on the multi-step delegate rule. This method sequentially selects voters who is most delegated indirectly. Multi-agent simulation demonstrate that we can achieve highly fair poll results from small number of vote by using proposed method. Here, fairness is prediction accuracy to sum of all voters preferences for choices. In simulation, each voter selects choices arranged on one dimensional preference axis for voting. Acquaintance relationships among voters were generated as a random network, and each voter delegates some of his acquaintances who has similar preferences. We obtained simulation results from various acquaintance networks, and then averaged these results. Firstly, if each voter has enough acquaintances in average, proposed method can help predicting sum of all voters' preferences of choices from small number of vote. Secondly, if the number of each voter's acquaintances increases corresponding to an increase in the number of voters, prediction accuracy (fairness) from small number of vote can be kept in appropriate level.

78 FR 6365 - Self-Regulatory Organizations: Miami International Securities Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-30

... stated in approving New York Stock Exchange (``NYSE'') rules prohibiting broker voting in the election of... voting uninstructed shares if the matter voted on relates to (i) the election of a member of the board of directors of an issuer (other than an uncontested election of a director of an investment company registered...

76 FR 62107 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Order Granting...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-06

... dispose of any plan asset and has not expressly reserved the proxy voting right for the named ERISA Plan...) of the Act. \\19\\ As the Commission stated in approving NYSE rules prohibiting broker voting in the... Proposed Rule Change To Amend BATS Rule 13.3 To Prohibit Members From Voting Uninstructed Shares on Certain...

76 FR 56833 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Y-Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change To...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... respective voting rights and of Class A and Class B common stock, (iv) setting forth certain limitations on... Incorporation, shares of Non-Voting Common Stock possess the same rights, preferences, powers, privileges... B Common Stock. Except for voting rights and certain conversion features, as described below, Class...

Does the use of the proportional shortfall help align the prioritisation of health services with public preferences?

PubMed

Richardson, Jeff; Iezzi, Angelo; Maxwell, Aimee; Chen, Gang

2017-08-11

It has been proposed that equity may be included in the economic evaluation of health services using the 'proportional shortfall' (PS)-the proportion of a person's QALY expectation that they would lose because of an illness. The present paper reports the results of a population survey designed to test whether PS helped to explain people's preferences for health services and whether it did this better than the absolute shortfall or the equity related variables that PS seeks to replace. Survey respondents were asked to allocate 100 votes between 13 scenarios and a standard scenario. Variation in the allocation of votes was explained by health gain and different combinations of the equity variables. Differences in votes for the comparisons were significantly related to differences in PS but the relationship was weaker than between votes and the age related variables. Cases were identified where PS suggested a priority ordering of services which was strongly rejected by respondents. It is concluded that the use of PS is unlikely to improve the alignment of priorities with public preferences.

26 CFR 53.4958-6 - Rebuttable presumption that a transaction is not an excess benefit transaction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... the meeting and is not present during debate and voting on the compensation arrangement or property... debate on the transaction that was approved and those who voted on it; (C) The comparability data...

26 CFR 53.4958-6 - Rebuttable presumption that a transaction is not an excess benefit transaction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... the meeting and is not present during debate and voting on the compensation arrangement or property... debate on the transaction that was approved and those who voted on it; (C) The comparability data...

Nominations for Sale1

PubMed Central

Console-Battilana, Silvia; Shepsle, Kenneth A.

2009-01-01

Models of nomination politics in the US often find “gridlock” in equilibrium because of the super-majority requirement in the Senate for the confirmation of presidential nominees. A blocking coalition often prefers to defeat any nominee. Yet empirically nominations are successful. In the present paper we explore the possibility that senators can be induced to vote contrary to their nominal (gridlock-producing) preferences through contributions from the president and/or lobbyists, thus breaking the gridlock and confirming the nominee. We model contributions by the president and lobbyists according to whether payment schedules are conditioned on the entire voting profile, the vote of a senator, or the outcome. We analyze several extensions to our baseline approach, including the possibility that lobbyists may find it more productive to offer inducements to the president in order to affect his proposal behavior, rather than trying to induce senators to vote for or against a given nominee. PMID:20011612

7 CFR 900.304 - Who may vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Conduct of Referenda To Determine Producer Approval of Milk Marketing Orders To Be Made Effective Pursuant to Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as Amended § 900.304 Who may vote. (a) Each producer... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements...

7 CFR 900.307 - Time for voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Conduct of Referenda To Determine Producer Approval of Milk Marketing Orders To Be Made Effective Pursuant to Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as Amended § 900.307 Time for voting. There shall be... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements...

7 CFR 900.302 - Associations eligible to vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Conduct of Referenda To Determine Producer Approval of Milk Marketing Orders To Be Made Effective Pursuant to Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as Amended § 900.302 Associations eligible to vote... Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing...

Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2016).

PubMed

Adams, Michael J; Lefkowitz, Elliot J; King, Andrew M Q; Harrach, Balázs; Harrison, Robert L; Knowles, Nick J; Kropinski, Andrew M; Krupovic, Mart; Kuhn, Jens H; Mushegian, Arcady R; Nibert, Max; Sabanadzovic, Sead; Sanfaçon, Hélène; Siddell, Stuart G; Simmonds, Peter; Varsani, Arvind; Zerbini, Francisco Murilo; Gorbalenya, Alexander E; Davison, Andrew J

2016-10-01

This article lists the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in April 2016.Changes to virus taxonomy (the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses [ICTV]) now take place annually and are the result of a multi-stage process. In accordance with the ICTV Statutes ( http://www.ictvonline.org/statutes.asp ), proposals submitted to the ICTV Executive Committee (EC) undergo a review process that involves input from the ICTV Study Groups (SGs) and Subcommittees (SCs), other interested virologists, and the EC. After final approval by the EC, proposals are then presented for ratification to the full ICTV membership by publication on an ICTV web site ( http://www.ictvonline.org/ ) followed by an electronic vote. The latest set of proposals approved by the EC was made available on the ICTV website by January 2016 ( https://talk.ictvonline.org/files/proposals/ ). A list of these proposals was then emailed on 28 March 2016 to the 148 members of ICTV, namely the EC Members, Life Members, ICTV Subcommittee Members (including the SG chairs) and ICTV National Representatives. Members were then requested to vote on whether to ratify the taxonomic proposals (voting closed on 29 April 2016).

Toward an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health clinical data collection tool: the Italian experience of developing simple, intuitive descriptions of the Rehabilitation Set categories.

PubMed

Selb, Melissa; Gimigliano, Francesca; Prodinger, Birgit; Stucki, Gerold; Pestelli, Germano; Iocco, Maurizio; Boldrini, Paolo

2017-04-01

As part of international efforts to develop and implement national models including the specification of ICF-based clinical data collection tools, the Italian rehabilitation community initiated a project to develop simple, intuitive descriptions of the ICF Rehabilitation Set, highlighting the core concept of each category in user-friendly language. This paper outlines the Italian experience in developing simple, intuitive descriptions of the ICF Rehabilitation Set as an ICF-based clinical data collection tool for Italy. Consensus process. Expert conference. Multidisciplinary group of rehabilitation professionals. The first of a two-stage consensus process involved developing an initial proposal for simple, intuitive descriptions of each ICF Rehabilitation Set category based on descriptions generated in a similar process in China. Stage two involved a consensus conference. Divided into three working groups, participants discussed and voted (vote A) whether the initially proposed descriptions of each ICF Rehabilitation Set category was simple and intuitive enough for use in daily practice. Afterwards the categories with descriptions considered ambiguous i.e. not simple and intuitive enough, were divided among the working groups, who were asked to propose a new description for the allocated categories. These proposals were then voted (vote B) on in a plenary session. The last step of the consensus conference required each working group to develop a new proposal for each and the same categories with descriptions still considered ambiguous. Participants then voted (final vote) for which of the three proposed descriptions they preferred. Nineteen clinicians from diverse rehabilitation disciplines from various regions of Italy participated in the consensus process. Three ICF categories already achieved consensus in vote A, while 20 ICF categories were accepted in vote B. The remaining 7 categories were decided in the final vote. The findings were discussed in light of current efforts toward developing strategies for ICF implementation, specifically for the application of an ICF-based clinical data collection tool, not only for Italy but also for the rest of Europe. Promising as minimal standards for monitoring the impact of interventions and for standardized reporting of functioning as a relevant outcome in rehabilitation.

Elections: DOD Can Strengthen Evaluation of Its Absentee Voting Assistance Program

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

Evaluation of Its Absentee Voting Assistance Program June 2010 GAO-10-476 Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public...4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Elections: DOD Can Strengthen Evaluation of Its Absentee Voting Assistance Program 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c...PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES

Visualizing Elections Using Saari Triangles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alfaro, Ricardo; Han, Lixing; Schilling, Kenneth; Birgen, Mariah

2010-01-01

Students sometimes have difficulty calculating the result of a voting system applied to a particular set of voter preference lists. Saari triangles offer a way to visualize the result of an election and make this calculation easier in the case of several important voting systems.

The Effect of Religion on Candidate Preference in the 2008 and 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries

PubMed Central

Bradberry, Leigh A.

2016-01-01

Thanks to the work of politics and religion scholars, we now know a lot about the relationship between religion and voting in American presidential general elections. However, we know less about the influence of religion on individual vote choice in presidential primaries. This article fills that gap by exploring the relationship between religion and candidate preference in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries. Using pre-Super Tuesday surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center, I find that the Republican candidate who most explicitly appealed to religious voters (Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012) was the preferred candidate of Republican respondents who attended religious services at the highest levels, and that as attendance increased, so did the likelihood of preferring that candidate. I also find that identification as a born again Christian mattered to candidate preference. Specifically, born again Christians were more likely than non-born again Christians to prefer Huckabee to Mitt Romney, John McCain and Ron Paul in 2008, and Santorum to Romney in 2012. Although ideology was not the primary subject of this article, I find that ideology was also a statistically significant predictor of Republican candidate preference in both 2008 and 2012. This robust finding reinforces scholars’ prior work on the importance of ideology in explaining presidential primary vote choice. The overall findings of the paper provide evidence that religion variables can add to our understanding of why voters prefer one candidate over another in presidential primaries. PMID:27043438

The Effect of Religion on Candidate Preference in the 2008 and 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries.

PubMed

Bradberry, Leigh A

2016-01-01

Thanks to the work of politics and religion scholars, we now know a lot about the relationship between religion and voting in American presidential general elections. However, we know less about the influence of religion on individual vote choice in presidential primaries. This article fills that gap by exploring the relationship between religion and candidate preference in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries. Using pre-Super Tuesday surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center, I find that the Republican candidate who most explicitly appealed to religious voters (Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012) was the preferred candidate of Republican respondents who attended religious services at the highest levels, and that as attendance increased, so did the likelihood of preferring that candidate. I also find that identification as a born again Christian mattered to candidate preference. Specifically, born again Christians were more likely than non-born again Christians to prefer Huckabee to Mitt Romney, John McCain and Ron Paul in 2008, and Santorum to Romney in 2012. Although ideology was not the primary subject of this article, I find that ideology was also a statistically significant predictor of Republican candidate preference in both 2008 and 2012. This robust finding reinforces scholars' prior work on the importance of ideology in explaining presidential primary vote choice. The overall findings of the paper provide evidence that religion variables can add to our understanding of why voters prefer one candidate over another in presidential primaries.

'It's The Sun Wot Won It': Evidence of media influence on political attitudes and voting from a UK quasi-natural experiment.

PubMed

Reeves, Aaron; McKee, Martin; Stuckler, David

2016-03-01

Do print media significantly impact political attitudes and party identification? To examine this question, we draw on a rare quasi-natural experiment that occurred when The Sun, a right-leaning UK tabloid, shifted its support to the Labour party in 1997 and back to the Conservative party in 2010. We compared changes in party identification and political attitudes among Sun readers with non-readers and other newspaper readerships. We find that The Sun's endorsements were associated with a significant increase in readers' support for Labour in 1997, approximately 525,000 votes, and its switch back was associated with about 550,000 extra votes for the Conservatives in 2010. Although we observed changes in readers' party preference, there was no effect on underlying political preferences. The magnitude of these changes, about 2% of the popular vote, would have been unable to alter the outcome of the 1997 General Election, but may have affected the 2010 Election. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Affinity communities in United Nations voting: Implications for democracy, cooperation, and conflict

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pauls, Scott D.; Cranmer, Skyler J.

2017-10-01

A network oriented examination of the co-voting network of the United Nations (UN) provides powerful insights into the international alignment of states, as well as normatively important processes such as democracy, defensive cooperation, and armed conflict. Here, we investigate the UN co-voting network using the tools of community detection and inductively identify "affinity communities" in which states articulate similar policy preferences through their voting patterns. Analysis of these communities reveals that there is more information contained in UN voting and co-voting patterns than has previously been thought. Affinity communities have complex relationships with some of the most normatively important international outcomes: they reflect transitions to democracy, have a feedback loop with the formation of defensive alliances, and actively help states avoid armed conflict.

House panel votes to retain HOPWA at $171 million.

PubMed

1996-06-14

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development voted to approve a fiscal 1997 spending bill that allocates $171 million to the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) program. Although more cities will be eligible for assistance in 1996, the spending level remains the same as in 1995.

9 CFR 147.47 - Conference consideration of proposed changes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... proposal. If moved and seconded, the proposal is subject to discussion and voted. If there is no motion for approval, or if moved but not seconded, there can be no discussion or vote. (e) Discussion on any motion must be withheld until the motion has been properly seconded, except that the delegate making the...

Public support for social financing of health care in Switzerland.

PubMed

Perneger, Thomas V; Hudelson, Patricia M

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the public's preference for financing health care according to people's ability to pay. The authors compared voters' support in 26 Swiss cantons for a legislative proposal to replace regionally rated health insurance premiums (current system) with premiums proportional to income and wealth, and co-financed through the value added tax. The vote took place in May 2003, and the initiative was rejected, with only 27 percent of support nationwide. However, support varied more than threefold, from 13 to 44 percent, among cantons. In multivariate analysis, support was most strongly correlated with the approval rate of the 1994 law on health insurance, which strengthened solidarity between the sick and the healthy. More modest associations were seen between support for the initiative and the health insurance premium of 2003, and proportions of elderly and urban residents in the population. Hence support for more social financing of health care was best explained by past preference for a social health insurance system in the local community.

75 FR 66589 - Shareholder Approval of Executive Compensation and Golden Parachute Compensation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-28

... 14A(b)(2). \\26\\ Exchange Act Section 14A(c). For a more detailed discussion of the advisory nature of... the shareholder votes required by Rule 14a-21, including disclosure of the non-binding nature of the...-binding nature of the vote. We are proposing to require additional disclosure so that information about...

"Shelby County v. Holder": What It Means for the Voting Rights Act

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwinn, Steven D.

2013-01-01

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "Shelby County v. Holder" that Congress had exceeded its Fifteenth Amendment enforcement authority when it reauthorized a part of the Voting Rights Act (a coverage formula) that forced places with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before making changes to their election laws.…

On the nature of voters’ coalition preferences

PubMed Central

Plescia, Carolina; Aichholzer, Julian

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT An expanding literature indicates that in multiparty systems with coalition governments, citizens consider the post-electoral bargaining process among parties when casting their vote. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the nature of voters’ coalition preferences. This paper uses data from the Austrian National Election Study to examine the determinants as well as the independence of preferences for coalitions as political object. We find that coalition preferences are strongly informed by spatial considerations; but additional non-ideological factors, such as party and leader preferences, also play a fundamental role. We also find that coalitions enjoy a certain degree of independence from other objects of vote choice and they do not always represent a simple average score on the feeling thermometer of the constituent parties. There are, however, substantial differences among voters, with party identifiers and those with extreme ideology being less likely to consider coalitions as separate entities from their component parties. PMID:28824702

On the nature of voters' coalition preferences.

PubMed

Plescia, Carolina; Aichholzer, Julian

2017-07-03

An expanding literature indicates that in multiparty systems with coalition governments, citizens consider the post-electoral bargaining process among parties when casting their vote. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the nature of voters' coalition preferences. This paper uses data from the Austrian National Election Study to examine the determinants as well as the independence of preferences for coalitions as political object. We find that coalition preferences are strongly informed by spatial considerations; but additional non-ideological factors, such as party and leader preferences, also play a fundamental role. We also find that coalitions enjoy a certain degree of independence from other objects of vote choice and they do not always represent a simple average score on the feeling thermometer of the constituent parties. There are, however, substantial differences among voters, with party identifiers and those with extreme ideology being less likely to consider coalitions as separate entities from their component parties.

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Approves 8 ELL-Related Credential Options

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frost, Jeff; Cadiero-Kaplan, Karen; Kuhlman, Natalie

2011-01-01

On September 30, 2010, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) voted unanimously to approve a set of eight recommendations for authorization to teach English language learners. These recommendations approved by the CTC had been in development for almost two years and they focused on several issues, including: (1) a specific focus…

Books not closed on U. S. omnibus energy bill

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

This paper reports on omnibus energy legislation which went down to the wire in the closing days of the 102nd U.S. Congress. The House adjourned after approving the compromise energy bill, 363-60. The Senate planned to resume debate on the wide-ranging legislation late last week. Proponents of the bill also faced the problem of getting enough senators to return from a recess and vote to override the filibuster. Sixty senators would have to vote to limit debate on the energy bill, a vote that energy lobbyists the could be close.

Early Election Returns and the Voting Behavior of Adolescent Voters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mann, Leon; And Others

1971-01-01

High school students participated in a field experiment that tested the effects of exposure to early election returns in a nonpartisan referendum. Students in the brighter classes changed their vote less frequently, but when they changed their preferences they showed a greater bandwagon effect. Students in the classes of lower academic achievement…

Engaging Adolescents to Inform the Development of a Mobile Gaming App to Incentivize Physical Activity

PubMed Central

Dibble, Marguerite

2017-01-01

Background Involving youth in the development of a mobile game designed to increase physical activity may increase relevancy and adoption. Objective To share the development process used to create a gaming app aimed at incentivizing physical activity in high school students. Methods Five focus groups were conducted with high school students (N=50) to understand gaming behaviors. A subset of students from the focus groups chose to complete a Web-based survey (N=10). Four different versions of gaming artwork and concept design based on student input were pilot tested (N=35), and group consensus building determined the direction of the game. The 4 game versions differed in their artwork style and gaming concept with some requiring competition versus cooperation, or being more individual versus team based. Group consensus building meant that all artwork and game concept options were displayed at the front of a classroom. Students could then vote for their top artwork and concept choices by putting stickers on the top 1 or 2 artwork and concept options that they liked best. Once all votes were cast, investigators discussed the voting results with students, and brainstormed ways to incorporate popular aspects of the 3 “losing” artwork and game concepts into the winning ideas. Results Focus group transcripts were analyzed for common themes. Artwork and gaming concept-voting data was tallied at the time of voting to share with students in real time. Focus groups and survey results revealed important themes for a successful gaming app: (1) competition, (2) balanced in-game rewards, (3) accessibility, and (4) aesthetic features. Consensus voting indicated the popularity of a collaborative competitive content design (35/66, 53%) and playful art (27/71, 38%). Conclusions To ensure saliency and effectiveness of game-based physical activity interventions, youth need to be included in design and implementation. Furthermore, the unique preferences and social constructs of high school students need to be considered during intervention development. PMID:28851676

Statistical mechanics model for the emergence of consensus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raffaelli, Giacomo; Marsili, Matteo

2005-07-01

The statistical properties of pairwise majority voting over S alternatives are analyzed in an infinite random population. We first compute the probability that the majority is transitive (i.e., that if it prefers A to B to C , then it prefers A to C ) and then study the case of an interacting population. This is described by a constrained multicomponent random field Ising model whose ferromagnetic phase describes the emergence of a strong transitive majority. We derive the phase diagram, which is characterized by a tricritical point and show that, contrary to intuition, it may be more likely for an interacting population to reach consensus on a number S of alternatives when S increases. This effect is due to the constraint imposed by transitivity on voting behavior. Indeed if agents are allowed to express nontransitive votes, the agents’ interaction may decrease considerably the probability of a transitive majority.

Voting for a personality: Do first impressions and self-evaluations affect voting decisions?

PubMed

Koppensteiner, Markus; Stephan, Pia

2014-08-01

Participants were asked to assess their own personality (i.e. Big Five scales), the personality of politicians shown in brief silent video clips, and the probability that they would vote for these politicians. Response surface analyses (RSA) revealed noteworthy effects of self-ratings and observer-ratings of openness, agreeableness, and emotional stability on voting probability. Furthermore, the participants perceived themselves as being more open, more agreeable, more emotionally stable, and more extraverted than the average politician. The study supports previous findings that first impressions affect decision making on important issues. Results also indicate that when only nonverbal information is available people prefer political candidates they perceive as having personality traits they value in themselves.

[Role of Institutional Review Boards for multi-centre studies in national health services research - a cross-sectional study of the effort to obtain secondary ethical approvals for the DACAPO study].

PubMed

Blecha, Sebastian; Thomann-Hackner, Kathrin; Brandstetter, Susanne; Dodoo-Schittko, Frank; Seboek, Philipp; Apfelbacher, Christian; Graf, Bernhard M; Bein, Thomas

2015-09-01

Health services research (HSR) is of fundamental importance for the continuous improvement of preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic measures. The conduct of multi-centre HSR studies requires that ethical approval by Institutional review boards (IRB's) is obtained. We documented the effort, the complexity and the man power necessary to obtain secondary ethical approval for a national HSR in Germany ("Surviving the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome" [DACAPO-study]). Having obtained a primary ethical approval by the IRB of Regensburg University, the time, correspondence, necessity for amendments, corrections, or additional costs by 34 IRB's for 64 participating study centers was documented. The complete obtainment was found to be time consuming and associated with a high workload and man power. A time span of seven month was needed to receive votes from all IRB's. The median time span was 25,5 days (25 %/75 % percentile 13 and 42 days, respectively). Requirements in terms of corrections or amendments were inhomogeneous and frequent changes were necessary. There were additional fees for secondary votes of 4328,40 €. Total costs for the study center Regensburg were 21.193,40 € (2,6 % of the grant volume). Obtaining all ethical approvals for a multi-centre observational HSR study in Germany is complex and time consuming. Various and inhomogeneous formalities may delay the plan and realization of HSR. A Homogenization and simplification of the procedure of ethics votes should be discussed. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

How Unwavering Is Support for the Local Property Tax?: Voting on School District Budgets in New York, 2003-2010

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverman, Robert Mark

2011-01-01

This article examines voting results for school district budgets in New York from 2003-2010. Despite annual local property tax increases, 91.9% of proposed school district budgets were approved by voters during the period examined. Using data from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the American Community Survey (ACS), several…

77 FR 59423 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE MKT LLC; Order Granting Approval of a Proposed Rule Change...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-27

... change the relative economic and voting rights of and among Class B Members, by its terms it cannot impact the aggregate economic and voting rights of Class B Members in relation to Class A Members. On... Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act'') \\1\\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\\2\\ a proposed rule change to...

Indicators of deprivation, voting patterns, and health status at area level in the Republic of Ireland.

PubMed

Kelleher, C; Timoney, A; Friel, S; McKeown, D

2002-01-01

To determine what relation, if any, exists between mortality patterns, indicators of deprivation, general lifestyle and social attitudes, as exemplified by general election voting pattern, in the Republic of Ireland. A relation has been demonstrated previously between voting and mortality patterns in the United Kingdom. Cross sectional ecological study using three data sources. Standardised mortality ratios (SMR) were based on mortality rates at county level and 1996 census data from the Central Statistics Office, 1997 general election first preference voting data in all 41 constituencies were aggregated to county level. Selected reported measures of health status, lifestyle and social circumstances are from the first ever National survey on lifestyles, attitudes and nutrition (SLAN). This study comprised adults over 18 years sampled by post using the electoral register from 273 representative district electoral divisions. Univariate inter-relations were examined at individual level for the dataset as a whole, adjusting for age and at aggregated level for 26 county borough areas, which included the two largest cities and for 22 county areas, which afforded correlation with voting pattern, using the method of Pearson's correlation coefficient. 1,806,932 votes were cast nationally at the 1997 general election, representing a voter turnout of 65.92 %. There was an overall response rate of 62% to SLAN comprising 6539 adults (47% male). The demographic pattern of survey respondents was consistent with that of the general population over 18 years. At individual level there was a large number of highly significant inter-relations between indicators of deprivation, various measures of self rated health status and lifestyle factors. Aggregated at 26 county level percentage unemployed (r=0.408, p=0.038), and level of education (r=0.475, p=0.014) related significantly to SMR and inversely to both fruit and vegetable consumption (r= -0.672, p=0.001) and excess alcohol consumption among men (r= -595, p=0.003). Those rating their health as fair or poor were more likely to report a poor quality of life (r=0.487, p=0.022), to have none or primary school education only (r=0.428, p=0.047), or to have a means tested medical services card (r=0.428, p=0.047). There was no significant relation between SMR and voting pattern for the two main political parties (67.28% first preferences) but a significant relation with left wing voting (r=0.446, p=0.037). Fianna Fail voting pattern was inversely related to level of dissatisfaction with health (r= -0.59, p<0.05). There was a positive significant relation between left wing voting and dissatisfaction with health (r=0.51, p<0.02) and rate of smoking (r=0.47, p=0.03). Smoking pattern also related positively to rates of voter abstention (r=0.526, p=0.12). These data are consistent with those in other countries in showing a relation between deprivation indicators and lifestyle, but differ in that no relation with SMR and the votes cast for the main parties was seen in a country with a mainly centre right voting pattern. The relation between left wing voting pattern and some indicators of deprivation and lifestyle suggest that party political voting patterns and affiliations could be a useful indicator of vertical social capital. However, its variability as a measure across countries suggests that the inter-relation between sociocultural and economic factors and the consequent influence on health status is not straightforward.

Indicators of deprivation, voting patterns, and health status at area level in the Republic of Ireland

PubMed Central

Kelleher, C; Timoney, A; Friel, S; McKeown, D

2002-01-01

Study objective: To determine what relation, if any, exists between mortality patterns, indicators of deprivation, general lifestyle and social attitudes, as exemplified by general election voting pattern, in the Republic of Ireland. A relation has been demonstrated previously between voting and mortality patterns in the United Kingdom. Design: Cross sectional ecological study using three data sources. Standardised mortality ratios (SMR) were based on mortality rates at county level and 1996 census data from the Central Statistics Office, 1997 general election first preference voting data in all 41 constituencies were aggregated to county level. Selected reported measures of health status, lifestyle and social circumstances are from the first ever National survey on lifestyles, attitudes and nutrition (SLAN). This study comprised adults over 18 years sampled by post using the electoral register from 273 representative district electoral divisions. Univariate inter-relations were examined at individual level for the dataset as a whole, adjusting for age and at aggregated level for 26 county borough areas, which included the two largest cities and for 22 county areas, which afforded correlation with voting pattern, using the method of Pearson's correlation coefficient. Participants: 1 806 932 votes were cast nationally at the 1997 general election, representing a voter turnout of 65.92 %. There was an overall response rate of 62% to SLAN comprising 6539 adults (47% male). The demographic pattern of survey respondents was consistent with that of the general population over 18 years. Main results: At individual level there was a large number of highly significant inter-relations between indicators of deprivation, various measures of self rated health status and lifestyle factors. Aggregated at 26 county level percentage unemployed (r=0.408, p=0.038), and level of education (r=0.475, p=0.014) related significantly to SMR and inversely to both fruit and vegetable consumption (r=-0.672, p=0.001) and excess alcohol consumption among men (r=-595, p=0.003). Those rating their health as fair or poor were more likely to report a poor quality of life (r=0.487, p=0.022), to have none or primary school education only (r=0.428, p=0.047), or to have a means tested medical services card (r=0.428, p=0.047). There was no significant relation between SMR and voting pattern for the two main political parties (67.28% first preferences) but a significant relation with left wing voting (r=0.446, p=0.037). Fianna Fail voting pattern was inversely related to level of dissatisfaction with health (r= -0.59, p<0.05). There was a positive significant relation between left wing voting and dissatisfaction with health (r=0.51, p<0.02) and rate of smoking (r=0.47, p=0.03). Smoking pattern also related positively to rates of voter abstention (r=0.526, p=0.12). Conclusions: These data are consistent with those in other countries in showing a relation between deprivation indicators and lifestyle, but differ in that no relation with SMR and the votes cast for the main parties was seen in a country with a mainly centre right voting pattern. The relation between left wing voting pattern and some indicators of deprivation and lifestyle suggest that party political voting patterns and affiliations could be a useful indicator of vertical social capital. However, its variability as a measure across countries suggests that the inter-relation between sociocultural and economic factors and the consequent influence on health status is not straightforward. PMID:11801618

Factors affecting the effectiveness of biomedical document indexing and retrieval based on terminologies.

PubMed

Dinh, Duy; Tamine, Lynda; Boubekeur, Fatiha

2013-02-01

The aim of this work is to evaluate a set of indexing and retrieval strategies based on the integration of several biomedical terminologies on the available TREC Genomics collections for an ad hoc information retrieval (IR) task. We propose a multi-terminology based concept extraction approach to selecting best concepts from free text by means of voting techniques. We instantiate this general approach on four terminologies (MeSH, SNOMED, ICD-10 and GO). We particularly focus on the effect of integrating terminologies into a biomedical IR process, and the utility of using voting techniques for combining the extracted concepts from each document in order to provide a list of unique concepts. Experimental studies conducted on the TREC Genomics collections show that our multi-terminology IR approach based on voting techniques are statistically significant compared to the baseline. For example, tested on the 2005 TREC Genomics collection, our multi-terminology based IR approach provides an improvement rate of +6.98% in terms of MAP (mean average precision) (p<0.05) compared to the baseline. In addition, our experimental results show that document expansion using preferred terms in combination with query expansion using terms from top ranked expanded documents improve the biomedical IR effectiveness. We have evaluated several voting models for combining concepts issued from multiple terminologies. Through this study, we presented many factors affecting the effectiveness of biomedical IR system including term weighting, query expansion, and document expansion models. The appropriate combination of those factors could be useful to improve the IR performance. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Marijuana policy opinions in Washington state since legalization: Would voters vote the same way?

PubMed

Subbaraman, Meenakshi Sabina; Kerr, William C

2016-12-01

In 2012, voters in Washington state approved Initiative 502 (I-502) which legalized recreational marijuana use at the state level. This study examines the relationship between demographics, marijuana and alcohol use, and voting outcomes, as well as how these variables relate to (i) whether voters would still vote the same way (a reflection of satisfaction with the new policy) and (ii) the likelihood of using marijuana purchased from legal retail stores. The sample consists of 2,007 adult Washington state residents recruited through Random Digit Dial between January and October 2014. Bivariate tests and multivariable regressions were used for analyses. Less than five percent of those who voted for marijuana legalization would change their votes, whereas 14% of those who voted against legalization would change their votes. In multivariable models controlling for demographics, substance use, and marijuana-related opinions, those who voted for legalization had half the odds of changing their votes than those who voted against it. Among past-year non-marijuana users, almost 10% were somewhat/very likely to use marijuana if they could buy it from a legal store. Past marijuana use, the belief that adults should be allowed to grow marijuana for personal use, and the belief that marijuana is not very risky for health were all related to increased likelihood of using marijuana purchased from legal stores. Since November 2012, support for marijuana legalization in Washington state has increased; accounting for the proportion of voters who would change their votes suggests that I-502 would pass today with even more votes in favor.

The debate over re-licensing the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Watts, Richard; Hines, Paul; Dowds, Jonathan

2010-05-15

In 2009, the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board approved a 20-year license extension for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant. Less than seven months later, the Vermont State Senate voted 26-4 to block the required certificate for public good. How did a plant seen as likely to be re-licensed become the first in 20 years to be rejected in a public vote? (author)

Voting for a personality: Do first impressions and self-evaluations affect voting decisions?

PubMed Central

Koppensteiner, Markus; Stephan, Pia

2014-01-01

Participants were asked to assess their own personality (i.e. Big Five scales), the personality of politicians shown in brief silent video clips, and the probability that they would vote for these politicians. Response surface analyses (RSA) revealed noteworthy effects of self-ratings and observer-ratings of openness, agreeableness, and emotional stability on voting probability. Furthermore, the participants perceived themselves as being more open, more agreeable, more emotionally stable, and more extraverted than the average politician. The study supports previous findings that first impressions affect decision making on important issues. Results also indicate that when only nonverbal information is available people prefer political candidates they perceive as having personality traits they value in themselves. PMID:25089064

Math-Science Bills Advance in Congress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoff, David J.; Cavanagh, Sean

2007-01-01

Improving K-12 instruction and student achievement in mathematics and science is at the heart of separate bills intended to bolster America's economic standing that won overwhelming approval in both houses of Congress last week. The House on April 24 approved the 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act by a vote of…

Engaging Adolescents to Inform the Development of a Mobile Gaming App to Incentivize Physical Activity.

PubMed

Pope, Lizzy; Garnett, Bernice; Dibble, Marguerite

2017-08-29

Involving youth in the development of a mobile game designed to increase physical activity may increase relevancy and adoption. To share the development process used to create a gaming app aimed at incentivizing physical activity in high school students. Five focus groups were conducted with high school students (N=50) to understand gaming behaviors. A subset of students from the focus groups chose to complete a Web-based survey (N=10). Four different versions of gaming artwork and concept design based on student input were pilot tested (N=35), and group consensus building determined the direction of the game. The 4 game versions differed in their artwork style and gaming concept with some requiring competition versus cooperation, or being more individual versus team based. Group consensus building meant that all artwork and game concept options were displayed at the front of a classroom. Students could then vote for their top artwork and concept choices by putting stickers on the top 1 or 2 artwork and concept options that they liked best. Once all votes were cast, investigators discussed the voting results with students, and brainstormed ways to incorporate popular aspects of the 3 "losing" artwork and game concepts into the winning ideas. Focus group transcripts were analyzed for common themes. Artwork and gaming concept-voting data was tallied at the time of voting to share with students in real time. Focus groups and survey results revealed important themes for a successful gaming app: (1) competition, (2) balanced in-game rewards, (3) accessibility, and (4) aesthetic features. Consensus voting indicated the popularity of a collaborative competitive content design (35/66, 53%) and playful art (27/71, 38%). To ensure saliency and effectiveness of game-based physical activity interventions, youth need to be included in design and implementation. Furthermore, the unique preferences and social constructs of high school students need to be considered during intervention development. ©Lizzy Pope, Bernice Garnett, Marguerite Dibble. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 29.08.2017.

Anchoring bias in online voting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Zimo; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhou, Tao

2012-12-01

Voting online with explicit ratings could largely reflect people's preferences and objects' qualities, but ratings are always irrational, because they may be affected by many unpredictable factors like mood, weather and other people's votes. By analyzing two real systems, this paper reveals a systematic bias embedding in the individual decision-making processes, namely people tend to give a low rating after a low rating, as well as a high rating following a high rating. This so-called anchoring bias is validated via extensive comparisons with null models, and numerically speaking, the extent of bias decays with voting interval in a logarithmic form. Our findings could be applied in the design of recommender systems and considered as important complementary materials to previous knowledge about anchoring effects on financial trades, performance judgments, auctions, and so on.

Participation without representation? Senior opinion, legislative behavior, and federal health reform.

PubMed

Bradley, Katharine W V; Chen, Jowei

2014-04-01

Why do legislators sometimes engage in behavior that deviates from the expressed policy preferences of constituents who participate in politics at high rates? We examine this puzzle in the context of Democratic legislators' representation of their senior citizen constituents on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). We find that legislators' roll-call votes on the ACA did not reflect the stated preferences of their respective senior constituents; by contrast, these roll-call votes did reflect the preferences of nonsenior adults. We draw upon a theoretical framework developed by Mansbridge to explain this apparent nonresponsiveness to seniors on the ACA. This framework distinguishes between promissory representation, whereby legislators merely respond to constituents' preferences, and anticipatory representation, whereby legislators respond to constituents' underlying policy interests, even when such interests conflict with expressed preferences. By considering the Medicare provisions in the ACA and analyzing Democratic legislators' floor speeches on health reform, we provide preliminary evidence that members of Congress engaged in anticipatory representation of their senior constituents by attempting to educate seniors about how the ACA serves their policy interests.

Beauty at the ballot box: disease threats predict preferences for physically attractive leaders.

PubMed

White, Andrew Edward; Kenrick, Douglas T; Neuberg, Steven L

2013-12-01

Why does beauty win out at the ballot box? Some researchers have posited that it occurs because people ascribe generally positive characteristics to physically attractive candidates. We propose an alternative explanation-that leadership preferences are related to functional disease-avoidance mechanisms. Because physical attractiveness is a cue to health, people concerned with disease should especially prefer physically attractive leaders. Using real-world voting data and laboratory-based experiments, we found support for this relationship. In congressional districts with elevated disease threats, physically attractive candidates are more likely to be elected (Study 1). Experimentally activating disease concerns leads people to especially value physical attractiveness in leaders (Study 2) and prefer more physically attractive political candidates (Study 3). In a final study, we demonstrated that these findings are related to leadership preferences, specifically, rather than preferences for physically attractive group members more generally (Study 4). Together, these findings highlight the nuanced and functional nature of leadership preferences.

The fluctuating female vote: politics, religion, and the ovulatory cycle.

PubMed

Durante, Kristina M; Rae, Ashley; Griskevicius, Vladas

2013-06-01

Each month, many women experience an ovulatory cycle that regulates fertility. Although research has found that this cycle influences women's mating preferences, we proposed that it might also change women's political and religious views. Building on theory suggesting that political and religious orientation are linked to reproductive goals, we tested how fertility influenced women's politics, religiosity, and voting in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. In two studies with large and diverse samples, ovulation had drastically different effects on single women and women in committed relationships. Ovulation led single women to become more liberal, less religious, and more likely to vote for Barack Obama. In contrast, ovulation led women in committed relationships to become more conservative, more religious, and more likely to vote for Mitt Romney. In addition, ovulation-induced changes in political orientation mediated women's voting behavior. Overall, the ovulatory cycle not only influences women's politics but also appears to do so differently for single women than for women in relationships.

8 CFR 245.18 - Physicians with approved employment-based petitions serving in a medically underserved area or a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Physicians with approved employment-based... THAT OF PERSON ADMITTED FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE § 245.18 Physicians with approved employment-based... second preference employment-based immigrant visa petition. (b) Do alien physicians have special time...

8 CFR 245.18 - Physicians with approved employment-based petitions serving in a medically underserved area or a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Physicians with approved employment-based... THAT OF PERSON ADMITTED FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE § 245.18 Physicians with approved employment-based... second preference employment-based immigrant visa petition. (b) Do alien physicians have special time...

8 CFR 245.18 - Physicians with approved employment-based petitions serving in a medically underserved area or a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Physicians with approved employment-based... THAT OF PERSON ADMITTED FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE § 245.18 Physicians with approved employment-based... second preference employment-based immigrant visa petition. (b) Do alien physicians have special time...

76 FR 17106 - Ashley Resource Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-28

... who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service...) Welcome and roll call; (2) Approval of meeting minutes; (3) Roll call voting on projects; (4) Development...

13 CFR 107.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of... Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval. Without prior written... to the proposed new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with...

13 CFR 107.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of... Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval. Without prior written... to the proposed new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with...

13 CFR 107.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of... Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval. Without prior written... to the proposed new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with...

13 CFR 107.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of... Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in Licensee before SBA approval. Without prior written... to the proposed new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with...

75 FR 18026 - Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-08

... Institute of Peace Act, Public Law 98-525. Agenda: April 29, 2010 Board Meeting; Approval of Minutes of the...; Audit and Finance Committee Report; Vote on the National Peace Essay Contest winners; Other General...

From community preferences to design: Investigation of human-centered optimization algorithms in web-based, democratic planning of watershed restoration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babbar-Sebens, M.; Mukhopadhyay, S.

2014-12-01

Web 2.0 technologies are useful resources for reaching out to larger stakeholder communities and involve them in policy making and planning efforts. While these technologies have been used in the past to support education and communication endeavors, we have developed a novel, web-based, interactive planning tool that involves the community in using science-based methods for the design of potential runoff management strategies on their landscape. The tool, Watershed REstoration using Spatio-Temporal Optimization of Resources (WRESTORE), uses a democratic voting process coupled with visualization interfaces, computational simulation and optimization models, and user modeling techniques to support a human-centered design approach. The tool can be used to engage diverse watershed stakeholders and landowners via the internet, thereby improving opportunities for outreach and collaborations. Users are able to (a) design multiple types of conservation practices at their field-scale catchment and at the entire watershed scale, (b) examine impacts and limitations of their decisions on their neighboring catchments and on the entire watershed, (c) compare alternatives via a cost-benefit analysis, (d) vote on their "favorite" designs based on their preferences and constraints, and (e) propose their "favorite" alternatives to policy makers and other stakeholders. In this presentation, we will demonstrate the effectiveness of WRESTORE for designing alternatives of conservation practices to reduce peak flows in a Midwestern watershed, present results on multiple approaches for engaging with larger communities, and discuss potential for future developments.

Voting patterns and alliance formation in the European Parliament

PubMed Central

Hix, Simon; Noury, Abdul; Roland, Gérard

2008-01-01

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have voluntarily formed transnational political groups and invariably follow the voting instructions of these groups. This is intriguing as there are few obvious incentives for doing so. Unlike national parties, for example, the political groups in the European Parliament are not punished by the electorate if they are divided on key issues, as citizens know very little about what goes on inside the European Parliament. This paper pieces together an explanation of why the European political groups exist and why they have become so powerful by looking at the determinants of group cohesion and by undertaking a spatial analysis of voting in the European Parliament. MEPs who share preferences on a range of issues on the European Union policy agenda have an incentive to establish a division-of-labour contract and to share the costs of collecting information. Once internal party policy specialization and agenda setting has been established, MEPs have incentives to follow the voting instructions of their group owing to the advantages of cohesion in a context of repeated voting. PMID:19073477

Voting patterns and alliance formation in the European Parliament.

PubMed

Hix, Simon; Noury, Abdul; Roland, Gérard

2009-03-27

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have voluntarily formed transnational political groups and invariably follow the voting instructions of these groups. This is intriguing as there are few obvious incentives for doing so. Unlike national parties, for example, the political groups in the European Parliament are not punished by the electorate if they are divided on key issues, as citizens know very little about what goes on inside the European Parliament. This paper pieces together an explanation of why the European political groups exist and why they have become so powerful by looking at the determinants of group cohesion and by undertaking a spatial analysis of voting in the European Parliament. MEPs who share preferences on a range of issues on the European Union policy agenda have an incentive to establish a division-of-labour contract and to share the costs of collecting information. Once internal party policy specialization and agenda setting has been established, MEPs have incentives to follow the voting instructions of their group owing to the advantages of cohesion in a context of repeated voting.

Imagining class: A study into material social class position, subjective identification, and voting behavior across Europe.

PubMed

D'Hooge, Lorenzo; Achterberg, Peter; Reeskens, Tim

2018-02-01

The traditional approach to class voting has largely ignored the question whether material class positions coincide with subjective class identification. Following Sosnaud et al. (2013), this study evaluates party preferences when Europeans' material and subjective social class do not coincide. Seminal studies on voting behavior have suggested that members of lower classes are more likely to vote for the economic left and cultural right and that higher classes demonstrate the opposite pattern. Yet, these studies have on the one hand overlooked the possibility that there is a mismatch between the material class people can be classified in and the class they think they are part of, and on the other hand the consequences of this discordant class identification on voting behavior. Analyzing the 2009 wave of the European Elections Study, we find that the majority of the Europeans discordantly identify with the middle class, whereas only a minority of the lower and higher classes concordantly identify with their material social class. Further, material class only seems to predict economic voting behavior when it coincides with subjective class; for instance, individuals who have an inflated class identification are more likely to vote for the economic left, even when they materially can be classified as middle or high class. We conclude this paper with a discussion on scholarly debates concerning class and politics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

12 CFR 708b.301 - Conversion of insurance (State Chartered Credit Union).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... MONEY BACK. I vote on the proposal as follows (check one box): [] Approve the conversion to private... conversion will result in the following one-time cost associated with the conversion: (List the total...

12 CFR 708b.301 - Conversion of insurance (State Chartered Credit Union).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... MONEY BACK. I vote on the proposal as follows (check one box): [] Approve the conversion to private... conversion will result in the following one-time cost associated with the conversion: (List the total...

12 CFR 708b.301 - Conversion of insurance (State Chartered Credit Union).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... MONEY BACK. I vote on the proposal as follows (check one box): [] Approve the conversion to private... conversion will result in the following one-time cost associated with the conversion: (List the total...

FY92 Appropriations Bills reach conference committees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bush, Susan

Further legislative action will be put on hold until after Labor Day, while Congress is in its annual August recess. The FY 92 budget cycle begun in February is in its closing stages. Differing appropriations bills funding the science agencies were passed by both chambers of Congress and must now be passed by a joint committee conference, specially appointed to iron out the differences in the bills before going to President Bush for his approval or veto.The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill (HR2427), which funds the Department of Energy, has gone through the joint conference committee and has been sent to the president. In less than 2 hours of negotiation the House and Senate agreed to the final version of the bill on July 30. The House voted in favor of the measure the next day, and the Senate approved it on August 2 by voice vote.

Battlefield Trauma Care Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Priorities

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-14

approved them by unanimous vote on March 8, 2011. FINDINGS Non-Compressible Hemorrhage Control-Follow-Up Tranexamic Acid Studies 5. Hemorrhagic shock...received tranexamic acid demonstrated a significant decrease in mortality without any increase in venous occlusive events either accompanied by or at...occlusive events. 8. Tranexarnic acid is a low-cost, FDA-approved agent. 9. The potential benefit and optimal use of tranexamic acid are not yet

Acceptability of willingness to pay techniques to consumers.

PubMed

Taylor, Susan J; Armour, Carol L

2002-12-01

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the proportion of usable responses and protest votes obtained with two willingness to pay (WTP) techniques, contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) and to assess the acceptability of the techniques to respondents. Pregnant women attending the public antenatal clinics of a Sydney teaching hospital were surveyed. Preference for either Treatment A (artificial rupture of the membranes followed by intravenous oxytocin) or Treatment B (prostaglandin E2 gel followed by oxytocin if necessary) was assessed. Then WTP for the preferred treatments was assessed using CV and WTP for specific attributes of the treatments in the DCE. In addition, the acceptability of the two techniques was compared in terms of responses deemed to be valid according to defined criteria, protest votes and comments recorded by consumers. With the CV, 74% of respondents chose gel and their maximum WTP was Aus$178 compared with $133 for the alternative. A total of 68% of responses were deemed to be valid including 5% who may have been expressing a protest vote. With the DCE, respondents were WTP $55 for every 1 h reduction in the length of time from induction to delivery. A total of 72% of responses were deemed valid and only two of these 258 women were considered to have expressed a protest vote. Only a small number of women expressed objections to the use of WTP questions in health-care and the majority of women completed both questions successfully.

7 CFR 1218.72 - Suspension and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BLUEBERRY PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Blueberry Promotion, Research, and Information Order Miscellaneous § 1218.72... voting for approval who also represent a majority of the volume of blueberries represented in the...

7 CFR 1218.72 - Suspension and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BLUEBERRY PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Blueberry Promotion, Research, and Information Order Miscellaneous § 1218.72... voting for approval who also represent a majority of the volume of blueberries represented in the...

7 CFR 1218.72 - Suspension and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BLUEBERRY PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Blueberry Promotion, Research, and Information Order Miscellaneous § 1218.72... voting for approval who also represent a majority of the volume of blueberries represented in the...

7 CFR 1218.72 - Suspension and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BLUEBERRY PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Blueberry Promotion, Research, and Information Order Miscellaneous § 1218.72... voting for approval who also represent a majority of the volume of blueberries represented in the...

7 CFR 1218.72 - Suspension and termination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BLUEBERRY PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Blueberry Promotion, Research, and Information Order Miscellaneous § 1218.72... voting for approval who also represent a majority of the volume of blueberries represented in the...

77 FR 73034 - Neurological Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-07

... recommendations and vote on information regarding the premarket approval application (PMA) for the NeuroPace Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS) System sponsored by NeuroPace, Inc. The RNS System is indicated for use as...

Commentary on Fiester's "Ill-placed democracy: ethics consultations and the moral status of voting".

PubMed

Dubler, Nancy Neveloff

2011-01-01

Autumn Fiester identifies an important element in clinical ethics consultation (CEC) that she labels, from the Greek, aporia, "state of perplexity," evidenced in CEC as ethical ambiguity. Fiester argues that the inherent difficulties of cases so characterized render them inappropriate for voting and more amenable to mediation and the search for consensus. This commentary supports Fiester's analysis and adds additional reasons for rejecting voting as a process for resolving disputes in CEC including: it distorts the analysis by empowering individual voters preferences and biases rather than focusing on the interests and wishes of the patient and family; it offers an insufficiently sensitive model for resolving the awesome, nuanced, conflicted, and ethically complex issues surrounding life and death; it marginalizes minority opinions that may have moral validity.

22 CFR 225.115 - IRB records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

..., including the following: (1) Copies of all research proposals reviewed, scientific evaluations, if any, that accompany the proposals, approved sample consent documents, progress reports submitted by investigators, and... members voting for, against, and abstaining; the basis for requiring changes in or disapproving research...

Communication Among Incident Responders-A Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

Determine If More Teams Prefer Water or Coca - Cola 5 2.3.1 Description 5 2.3.2 Results 6 2.3.3 Analysis 7 2.4 Task #4: Complete Email Message...participating in this study: <REDACTED> Please determine whether more of these teams prefer Coca - Cola or Water to drink with dinner. Please...needs to express a preference for either water or Coca - Cola . We also did not describe how teams should communicate and tally votes in order to answer our

Multivariate Complexity Analysis of Swap Bribery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorn, Britta; Schlotter, Ildikó

We consider the computational complexity of a problem modeling bribery in the context of voting systems. In the scenario of Swap Bribery, each voter assigns a certain price for swapping the positions of two consecutive candidates in his preference ranking. The question is whether it is possible, without exceeding a given budget, to bribe the voters in a way that the preferred candidate wins in the election.

Revisiting financial conflicts of interest in FDA advisory committees.

PubMed

Pham-Kanter, Genevieve

2014-09-01

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Innovation Act has recently relaxed conflict-of-interest rules for FDA advisory committee members, but concerns remain about the influence of members' financial relationships on the FDA's drug approval process. Using a large newly available data set, this study carefully examined the relationship between the financial interests of FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) advisory committee members and whether members voted in a way favorable to these interests. The study used a data set of voting behavior and reported financial interests of 1,379 FDA advisory committee members who voted in CDER committee meetings that were convened during the 15-year period of 1997-2011. Data on 1,168 questions and 15,739 question-votes from 379 meetings were used in the analyses. Multivariable logit models were used to estimate the relationship between committee members' financial interests and their voting behavior. Individuals with financial interests solely in the sponsoring firm were more likely to vote in favor of the sponsor than members with no financial ties (OR = 1.49, p = 0.03). Members with interests in both the sponsoring firm and its competitors were no more likely to vote in favor of the sponsor than those with no financial ties to any potentially affected firm (OR = 1.16, p = 0.48). Members who served on advisory boards solely for the sponsor were significantly more likely to vote in favor of the sponsor (OR = 4.97, p = 0.005). There appears to be a pro-sponsor voting bias among advisory committee members who have exclusive financial relationships with the sponsoring firm but not among members who have nonexclusive financial relationships (ie, those with ties to both the sponsor and its competitors). These findings point to important heterogeneities in financial ties and suggest that policymakers will need to be nuanced in their management of financial relationships of FDA advisory committee members. © 2014 Milbank Memorial Fund.

7 CFR 984.45 - Procedure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements... of communication, upon due notice to all members. The Board, with the approval of the Secretary... provide for meetings by telephone, or other means of communication and any vote cast at such a meeting...

7 CFR 984.45 - Procedure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements... of communication, upon due notice to all members. The Board, with the approval of the Secretary... provide for meetings by telephone, or other means of communication and any vote cast at such a meeting...

Acceptability of willingness to pay techniques to consumers

PubMed Central

Taylor, Susan J.; Armour, Carol L.

2002-01-01

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the proportion of usable responses and protest votes obtained with two willingness to pay (WTP) techniques, contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) and to assess the acceptability of the techniques to respondents. Setting and participants Pregnant women attending the public antenatal clinics of a Sydney teaching hospital were surveyed. Main variables studied Preference for either Treatment A (artificial rupture of the membranes followed by intravenous oxytocin) or Treatment B (prostaglandin E2 gel followed by oxytocin if necessary) was assessed. Then WTP for the preferred treatments was assessed using CV and WTP for specific attributes of the treatments in the DCE. In addition, the acceptability of the two techniques was compared in terms of responses deemed to be valid according to defined criteria, protest votes and comments recorded by consumers. Results With the CV, 74% of respondents chose gel and their maximum WTP was Aus$178 compared with $133 for the alternative. A total of 68% of responses were deemed to be valid including 5% who may have been expressing a protest vote. With the DCE, respondents were WTP $55 for every 1 h reduction in the length of time from induction to delivery. A total of 72% of responses were deemed valid and only two of these 258 women were considered to have expressed a protest vote. Conclusions Only a small number of women expressed objections to the use of WTP questions in health‐care and the majority of women completed both questions successfully. PMID:12460223

Can voter-approved tax levies provide fiscal advantages and stability for local public health agencies?

PubMed

Schmalzried, Hans D; Fallon, L Fleming

2013-01-01

Major funding cuts have occurred throughout the United States public health system during the past several years. Funding for local public health agency (LPHA) services and programs is obtained through a patchwork of sources that vary both within and among states. Even though local city and county sources provide a significant proportion of funding for LPHAs, information available in the literature about these revenues is sparse and is not clearly described. This study focused on a single specific revenue stream included in the local sources (local city and county) category: funds voted on directly by the public. The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether this type of funding source provided fiscal advantages for LPHAs. Specifically, we wanted to see how sensitive levy votes were to changing general economic conditions. A questionnaire to collect LPHA levy data was developed, approved, and mailed to county boards of elections in Ohio (n = 88). Elections officials were asked to provide voting results for all LPHA levy ballot attempts since 1994 regardless of outcome. In the study period (1994 through 2011), 250 LPHA property tax levies were placed on election ballots in Ohio. LPHAs were successful in 155 (62.0%) and unsuccessful in 95 (38.0%) attempts. Over the 18-year period, the most noteworthy outcome was a 94.6% pass rate for renewal levies. Our study demonstrated that voter-approved tax levies provide some fiscal advantages for LPHAs: higher per capita revenues than those who have to rely on other sources of income and predictable revenue streams. This translates into more funds being available for public health programs and services. Property tax levies allow citizens to make direct investments in their local health departments.

Science, space budget approved

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maggs, William Ward

The Senate is about to approve a budget for NASA, NSF, and other independent agencies that would restore some of the money cut by the House version from President Bush's request.The Senate Appropriations Committee approved recommendations of its Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies (VAHUDIA) subcommittee on $48.05 billion in discretionary spending for Fiscal Year 1990 on September 13. The full Senate could vote on the bill in the next few weeks. Differences between House and Senate versions of the bill will then be worked out by members of both houses in conference later in the year.

The role of candidate evaluations in the 2014 European Parliament elections: Towards the personalization of voting behaviour?

PubMed Central

Gattermann, Katjana; De Vreese, Claes H

2017-01-01

We study the personalization of voting behaviour in European Parliament elections. We argue that information from the media is crucial for providing linkages between candidates and voters. Moreover, we contend that candidates can serve as information short-cuts given the complexity of European Union politics. We use a four-wave Dutch panel survey and a media study that enable us to link evaluations of lead candidates, party preferences, and vote choice to exposure to news about these candidates. We show, firstly, that exposure to candidate news is a strong explanatory factor for candidate recognition. Secondly, we find that candidate evaluations positively affect party choice, albeit mainly for those voters who tend to be politically aware. Our research has implications for debates about the European Union’s accountability deficit. PMID:29657555

The role of candidate evaluations in the 2014 European Parliament elections: Towards the personalization of voting behaviour?

PubMed

Gattermann, Katjana; De Vreese, Claes H

2017-09-01

We study the personalization of voting behaviour in European Parliament elections. We argue that information from the media is crucial for providing linkages between candidates and voters. Moreover, we contend that candidates can serve as information short-cuts given the complexity of European Union politics. We use a four-wave Dutch panel survey and a media study that enable us to link evaluations of lead candidates, party preferences, and vote choice to exposure to news about these candidates. We show, firstly, that exposure to candidate news is a strong explanatory factor for candidate recognition. Secondly, we find that candidate evaluations positively affect party choice, albeit mainly for those voters who tend to be politically aware. Our research has implications for debates about the European Union's accountability deficit.

Impact of shade on outdoor thermal comfort—a seasonal field study in Tempe, Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Middel, Ariane; Selover, Nancy; Hagen, Björn; Chhetri, Nalini

2016-12-01

Shade plays an important role in designing pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces in hot desert cities. This study investigates the impact of photovoltaic canopy shade and tree shade on thermal comfort through meteorological observations and field surveys at a pedestrian mall on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. During the course of 1 year, on selected clear calm days representative of each season, we conducted hourly meteorological transects from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and surveyed 1284 people about their thermal perception, comfort, and preferences. Shade lowered thermal sensation votes by approximately 1 point on a semantic differential 9-point scale, increasing thermal comfort in all seasons except winter. Shade type (tree or solar canopy) did not significantly impact perceived comfort, suggesting that artificial and natural shades are equally efficient in hot dry climates. Globe temperature explained 51 % of the variance in thermal sensation votes and was the only statistically significant meteorological predictor. Important non-meteorological factors included adaptation, thermal comfort vote, thermal preference, gender, season, and time of day. A regression of subjective thermal sensation on physiological equivalent temperature yielded a neutral temperature of 28.6 °C. The acceptable comfort range was 19.1 °C-38.1 °C with a preferred temperature of 20.8 °C. Respondents exposed to above neutral temperature felt more comfortable if they had been in air-conditioning 5 min prior to the survey, indicating a lagged response to outdoor conditions. Our study highlights the importance of active solar access management in hot urban areas to reduce thermal stress.

13 CFR 120.912 - Borrowed contributions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Borrowed contributions. 120.912 Section 120.912 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION BUSINESS LOANS Development... Loan unless SBA gives prior written approval. A third party lender may not receive voting rights, stock...

78 FR 63225 - Ear, Nose and Throat Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-23

... recommendations, and vote on information regarding the premarket approval (PMA) application for the Nucleus[supreg... Nucleus[supreg] Hybrid TM L24 Implant System (as stated in the PMA) is as follows: The Nucleus[supreg...

Incorporating patient-preference evidence into regulatory decision making.

PubMed

Ho, Martin P; Gonzalez, Juan Marcos; Lerner, Herbert P; Neuland, Carolyn Y; Whang, Joyce M; McMurry-Heath, Michelle; Hauber, A Brett; Irony, Telba

2015-10-01

Patients have a unique role in deciding what treatments should be available for them and regulatory agencies should take their preferences into account when making treatment approval decisions. This is the first study designed to obtain quantitative patient-preference evidence to inform regulatory approval decisions by the Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Five-hundred and forty United States adults with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m(2) evaluated tradeoffs among effectiveness, safety, and other attributes of weight-loss devices in a scientific survey. Discrete-choice experiments were used to quantify the importance of safety, effectiveness, and other attributes of weight-loss devices to obese respondents. A tool based on these measures is being used to inform benefit-risk assessments for premarket approval of medical devices. Respondent choices yielded preference scores indicating their relative value for attributes of weight-loss devices in this study. We developed a tool to estimate the minimum weight loss acceptable by a patient to receive a device with a given risk profile and the maximum mortality risk tolerable in exchange for a given weight loss. For example, to accept a device with 0.01 % mortality risk, a risk tolerant patient will require about 10 % total body weight loss lasting 5 years. Patient preference evidence was used make regulatory decision making more patient-centered. In addition, we captured the heterogeneity of patient preferences allowing market approval of effective devices for risk tolerant patients. CDRH is using the study tool to define minimum clinical effectiveness to evaluate new weight-loss devices. The methods presented can be applied to a wide variety of medical products. This study supports the ongoing development of a guidance document on incorporating patient preferences into medical-device premarket approval decisions.

75 FR 70017 - Agency Information Collection Activities: File Number OMB 25, Extension of a Currently Approved...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-16

... Request ACTION: 30-Day Notice of Information Collection Under Review: OMB 25, Special Immigrant Visas for...) Title of the Form/Collection: Special Immigrant Visas for Fourth Preference Employment-Based... for the requested classification as fourth preference Employment-based immigrant broadcasters. (5) An...

[Which learning methods are expected for ultrasound training? Blended learning on trial].

PubMed

Röhrig, S; Hempel, D; Stenger, T; Armbruster, W; Seibel, A; Walcher, F; Breitkreutz, R

2014-10-01

Current teaching methods in graduate and postgraduate training often include frontal presentations. Especially in ultrasound education not only knowledge but also sensomotory and visual skills need to be taught. This requires new learning methods. This study examined which types of teaching methods are preferred by participants in ultrasound training courses before, during and after the course by analyzing a blended learning concept. It also investigated how much time trainees are willing to spend on such activities. A survey was conducted at the end of a certified ultrasound training course. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire based on a visual analogue scale (VAS) in which three categories were defined: category (1) vote for acceptance with a two thirds majority (VAS 67-100%), category (2) simple acceptance (50-67%) and category (3) rejection (< 50%). A total of 176 trainees participated in this survey. Participants preferred an e-learning program with interactive elements, short presentations (less than 20 min), incorporating interaction with the audience, hands-on sessions in small groups, an alternation between presentations and hands-on-sessions, live demonstrations and quizzes. For post-course learning, interactive and media-assisted approaches were preferred, such as e-learning, films of the presentations and the possibility to stay in contact with instructors in order to discuss the results. Participants also voted for maintaining a logbook for documentation of results. The results of this study indicate the need for interactive learning concepts and blended learning activities. Directors of ultrasound courses may consider these aspects and are encouraged to develop sustainable learning pathways.

[Allocating resources for cancer control--resolving multicriteria decision-making using the analytic hierarchy process].

PubMed

Gróf, Agnes

2007-01-01

When competing programs ought to be financed simultaneously for the same purpose, an allocation problem occurs due to scarce resources, and different perspectives and preferences. Facing the problem needs determining criteria which the decision might be based on. Those criteria form the objectives (the scope) of the different participants, and are relevant for the achievement of the goal, providing a comprehensive resource allocation that bridges and integrates the different perspectives. In case of cancer control primary prevention, secondary prevention, therapy and tertiary prevention, education, basic sciences, and clinical trials form the alternatives. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used for supporting decision-making in the resource allocation problem. AHP is a method for setting priorities, but can only work out the implications of what was declared through the pairwise-ranking process, namely the relative preferences, weighing the criteria and rating the alternatives two by two. In the first analysis the relative weights to criteria were 0.099 for 'distributive justice'; 0.120 for constitutional and human rights; 0.251 for lay opinion; 0.393 for EBM; 0.137 for cost-effectiveness. Ranking the alternatives using 'judgements' resulted in relative preference of 0.238 for therapy, 0.204 for primary prevention, 0.201 for secondary prevention, 0.135 for clinical trials, 0.111 for tertiary prevention, 0.066 for basic sciences and 0.045 for education. In the second analysis the relative importance of "cost-effectiveness" was doubled, thus resulting in 0.234 for therapy, 0.216 for secondary prevention, 0.183 for primary prevention, 0.145 for clinical trials, 0.113 for tertiary prevention, 0.063 for basic sciences and 0.046 for education. Sensitivity analysis has shown that increasing the relative weight of cost-effectiveness up to approximately 0.4 changes the rank of alternatives, and above 0.4 this criterion gives secondary prevention preferences. According to the relative rates computed in both of the models all criteria vote for therapy, but these preferences change at the high level of weights, in case of EBM, 'rights', and cost-effectiveness. Cost-effectiveness prefers secondary prevention to therapy; the criterion of constitutional and human rights and the criterion of evidence-based medicine vote for primary prevention.

The political reference point: How geography shapes political identity.

PubMed

Feinberg, Matthew; Tullett, Alexa M; Mensch, Zachary; Hart, William; Gottlieb, Sara

2017-01-01

It is commonly assumed that how individuals identify on the political spectrum-whether liberal, conservative, or moderate-has a universal meaning when it comes to policy stances and voting behavior. But, does political identity mean the same thing from place to place? Using data collected from across the U.S. we find that even when people share the same political identity, those in "bluer" locations are more likely to support left-leaning policies and vote for Democratic candidates than those in "redder" locations. Because the meaning of political identity is inconsistent across locations, individuals who share the same political identity sometimes espouse opposing policy stances. Meanwhile, those with opposing identities sometimes endorse identical policy stances. Such findings suggest that researchers, campaigners, and pollsters must use caution when extrapolating policy preferences and voting behavior from political identity, and that animosity toward the other end of the political spectrum is sometimes misplaced.

Voters and leaders in the mirror of politics: similarity in personality and voting choice in Italy and Spain.

PubMed

Vecchione, Michele; González Castro, José Luis; Caprara, Gian Vittorio

2011-08-01

Relations between voting choice and similarity in traits between voters and political candidates are examined in two studies. The first study was conducted in Spain, where the personalities of Mariano Rajoy and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero were assessed. The second study was conducted in Italy, where the politicians assessed were Walter Veltroni and Silvio Berlusconi. Results show in both cases a similarity between voters' self-reported personality and their appraisals of the leaders of the party for which they voted. Similarity is generally higher with respect to traits that are the most distinctive for each platform and its leader. The findings show a higher similarity between voters and their leaders on the markers of agreeableness, such as "loyal" and "sincere." Findings hold across countries and political figures, demonstrating the role that personal characteristics of both voters and candidates play in orienting political preference.

The political reference point: How geography shapes political identity

PubMed Central

Feinberg, Matthew; Tullett, Alexa M.; Mensch, Zachary; Hart, William; Gottlieb, Sara

2017-01-01

It is commonly assumed that how individuals identify on the political spectrum–whether liberal, conservative, or moderate–has a universal meaning when it comes to policy stances and voting behavior. But, does political identity mean the same thing from place to place? Using data collected from across the U.S. we find that even when people share the same political identity, those in “bluer” locations are more likely to support left-leaning policies and vote for Democratic candidates than those in “redder” locations. Because the meaning of political identity is inconsistent across locations, individuals who share the same political identity sometimes espouse opposing policy stances. Meanwhile, those with opposing identities sometimes endorse identical policy stances. Such findings suggest that researchers, campaigners, and pollsters must use caution when extrapolating policy preferences and voting behavior from political identity, and that animosity toward the other end of the political spectrum is sometimes misplaced. PMID:28207906

Voting rights for alien residents--who wants it?

PubMed

Tung, K R

1985-01-01

Foreign nationals permanently domiciled in Sweden have been entitled since 1975 to vote and to municipal and county council elections. This article examines some of the major issues associated with international migration and disenfranchisement of migrants created by a contradiction between economic and political rationale. The alien population of Sweden remained small for a long time, but during the 1960s it rose 1st to 300,000 and later to 400,000 persons. Since 1970, aliens have constituted roughly 5% of the total national population of 8.3 million. Surveys following the 3 elections held in Sweden so far have shown immigrants to be quite well informed concerning election procedures and the parties. In contrast to single males, women with children tend to be highly stable, because of favorable social security for women, particularly for women with children. Participation elections among women (55%) is higher than among men (49%), and married women (58%) are usually the highest participants. Class-voting is still rather strong in Sweden; the percentage difference in preference for Socialist parties between working-class and middle-class was as high 55% in 1960. Long term trends in the distribution of party-preference among immigrants are determined to a large extent by the policy on immigration regulation and political asylum for refugees and exiles. Another selectivity is due to the differential remigration rate. A 1976 study showed that although local franchise of immigrants is now the law of the land, some Swedes are still against the granting of voting rights and electability to immigrants. On the whole, there is clearly a psychological environment conducive, at least in Stockholm, to the task of putting local franchise reform into real practice.

Response to the Critique of "New Meningococcal Vaccine Recommendations under Consideration"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, James C.

2005-01-01

The CDC recently published the ACIP recommendations regarding the use of meningococcal conjugate vaccine. The report includes detailed epidemiologic and cost analysis information. At the conclusion of lengthy discussions, the ACIP voted unanimously to approve the recommendation as written. In this article, the author provides his counterreaction…

78 FR 30861 - Sunshine Act Meeting; Agenda Changed

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-23

... amended to include a discussion and vote on the Stand Your Ground research topic and a discussion of... Ground Research Topic Discussion of Concept Papers IV. Approval of State Advisory Committee Appointment... briefing is open to the public. Topic: Protecting the Civil Rights of Our Veterans and Service Members I...

77 FR 55799 - Sunshine Act Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-11

... Statutory Report Topic Approval and Scheduling of 2013 Briefings Adoption and Vote on 2013 USCCR Business Meeting Calendar Update on the Sex-Trafficking Briefing III. Management and Operations Chief of Regional.... ACTION: Notice of business meeting. DATE AND TIME: Friday, September 21, 2012; 9:30 a.m. EDT. PLACE: 1331...

78 FR 17727 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Order Approving Proposed...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-22

... and each Exchange Director's underlying business, ISE also stated that it believes that Exchange... Exchange to align its Board structure in accordance with corporate governance best practices guidelines... Services Proxy Voting Guidelines, the CalPERS Core Principles of Accountable Corporate Governance, the TIAA...

12 CFR 611.520 - Plan of transfer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... the stockholders' approval; or, (4) An event occurred between the time of the vote and the transfer... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Plan of transfer. 611.520 Section 611.520 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM ORGANIZATION Transfer of Authorities § 611...

12 CFR 611.520 - Plan of transfer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... the stockholders' approval; or, (4) An event occurred between the time of the vote and the transfer... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Plan of transfer. 611.520 Section 611.520 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM ORGANIZATION Transfer of Authorities § 611...

12 CFR 611.520 - Plan of transfer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... the stockholders' approval; or, (4) An event occurred between the time of the vote and the transfer... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Plan of transfer. 611.520 Section 611.520 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM ORGANIZATION Transfer of Authorities § 611...

12 CFR 611.520 - Plan of transfer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... the stockholders' approval; or, (4) An event occurred between the time of the vote and the transfer... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Plan of transfer. 611.520 Section 611.520 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM ORGANIZATION Transfer of Authorities § 611...

78 FR 48136 - Sunshine Act Notice

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-07

... COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS Sunshine Act Notice AGENCY: United States Commission on Civil Rights. ACTION: Notice of Business Meeting. DATE AND TIME: Friday, August 16, 2013; 9:30 a.m. EST. PLACE: 1331... Planning Vote to Approve and Adopt the Final Draft of the ``Civil Rights Implications of Eminent Domain...

Automatic processing of political preferences in the human brain.

PubMed

Tusche, Anita; Kahnt, Thorsten; Wisniewski, David; Haynes, John-Dylan

2013-05-15

Individual political preferences as expressed, for instance, in votes or donations are fundamental to democratic societies. However, the relevance of deliberative processing for political preferences has been highly debated, putting automatic processes in the focus of attention. Based on this notion, the present study tested whether brain responses reflect participants' preferences for politicians and their associated political parties in the absence of explicit deliberation and attention. Participants were instructed to perform a demanding visual fixation task while their brain responses were measured using fMRI. Occasionally, task-irrelevant images of German politicians from two major competing parties were presented in the background while the distraction task was continued. Subsequent to scanning, participants' political preferences for these politicians and their affiliated parties were obtained. Brain responses in distinct brain areas predicted automatic political preferences at the different levels of abstraction: activation in the ventral striatum was positively correlated with preference ranks for unattended politicians, whereas participants' preferences for the affiliated political parties were reflected in activity in the insula and the cingulate cortex. Using an additional donation task, we showed that the automatic preference-related processing in the brain extended to real-world behavior that involved actual financial loss to participants. Together, these findings indicate that brain responses triggered by unattended and task-irrelevant political images reflect individual political preferences at different levels of abstraction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

11 CFR 110.18 - Voting age population.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Voting age population. 110.18 Section 110.18... PROHIBITIONS § 110.18 Voting age population. There is annually published by the Department of Commerce in the Federal Register an estimate of the voting age population based on an estimate of the voting age...

11 CFR 110.18 - Voting age population.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2013-01-01 2012-01-01 true Voting age population. 110.18 Section 110.18... PROHIBITIONS § 110.18 Voting age population. There is annually published by the Department of Commerce in the Federal Register an estimate of the voting age population based on an estimate of the voting age...

11 CFR 110.18 - Voting age population.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Voting age population. 110.18 Section 110.18... PROHIBITIONS § 110.18 Voting age population. There is annually published by the Department of Commerce in the Federal Register an estimate of the voting age population based on an estimate of the voting age...

11 CFR 110.18 - Voting age population.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Voting age population. 110.18 Section 110.18... PROHIBITIONS § 110.18 Voting age population. There is annually published by the Department of Commerce in the Federal Register an estimate of the voting age population based on an estimate of the voting age...

Impact of Photovoltaic Canopy Shade on Outdoor Thermal Comfort in a Hot Desert City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Middel, Ariane; Selover, Nancy; Hagen, Björn; Chhetri, Nalini

2016-04-01

Shade plays an important role in designing pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces in hot desert cities. This study investigates the impact of photovoltaic canopy shade on thermal comfort through microclimate observations and field surveys at a pedestrian mall on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. Six stationary sensors under solar canopies and in nearby sun-exposed and tree-shaded locations monitored 5-min temperature and humidity for a year. On selected clear calm days representative of each season, we conducted hourly microclimate transects from 7:00AM to 6:00PM and surveyed 1284 people about their thermal perception, comfort, and preferences. Shade lowered thermal sensation votes by approximately 1 point on the Likert scale, increasing thermal comfort in all seasons except winter. The shade type (tree or solar canopy) did not significantly impact perceived comfort, suggesting that artificial and natural shade are equally efficient in semi-arid desert environments. Globe temperature explained 50% of the variance in thermal sensation votes and was the only statistically significant meteorological predictor. Important non-meteorological factors include adaptation level, gender, thermal comfort vote, thermal preference, season, and time of day. A regression of perceived comfort on Physiological Equivalent Temperature yielded a neutral temperature of 28.6°C. The acceptable comfort range was 19.1°C-38.1°C with a preferred temperature of 20.8°C. Respondents exposed to above neutral temperatures felt more comfortable if they had been in air-conditioning 5 minutes prior to the survey, indicating a lagged response to outdoor conditions. Our study highlights the importance of active solar access management in hot urban areas.

Impact of shade on outdoor thermal comfort-a seasonal field study in Tempe, Arizona.

PubMed

Middel, Ariane; Selover, Nancy; Hagen, Björn; Chhetri, Nalini

2016-12-01

Shade plays an important role in designing pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces in hot desert cities. This study investigates the impact of photovoltaic canopy shade and tree shade on thermal comfort through meteorological observations and field surveys at a pedestrian mall on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. During the course of 1 year, on selected clear calm days representative of each season, we conducted hourly meteorological transects from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and surveyed 1284 people about their thermal perception, comfort, and preferences. Shade lowered thermal sensation votes by approximately 1 point on a semantic differential 9-point scale, increasing thermal comfort in all seasons except winter. Shade type (tree or solar canopy) did not significantly impact perceived comfort, suggesting that artificial and natural shades are equally efficient in hot dry climates. Globe temperature explained 51 % of the variance in thermal sensation votes and was the only statistically significant meteorological predictor. Important non-meteorological factors included adaptation, thermal comfort vote, thermal preference, gender, season, and time of day. A regression of subjective thermal sensation on physiological equivalent temperature yielded a neutral temperature of 28.6 °C. The acceptable comfort range was 19.1 °C-38.1 °C with a preferred temperature of 20.8 °C. Respondents exposed to above neutral temperature felt more comfortable if they had been in air-conditioning 5 min prior to the survey, indicating a lagged response to outdoor conditions. Our study highlights the importance of active solar access management in hot urban areas to reduce thermal stress.

Can partisan voting lead to truth?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masuda, Naoki; Redner, S.

2011-02-01

We study an extension of the voter model in which each agent is endowed with an innate preference for one of two states that we term as 'truth' or 'falsehood'. Due to interactions with neighbors, an agent that innately prefers truth can be persuaded to adopt a false opinion (and thus be discordant with its innate preference) or the agent can possess an internally concordant 'true' opinion. Parallel states exist for agents that inherently prefer falsehood. We determine the conditions under which a population of such agents can ultimately reach a consensus for the truth, reach a consensus for falsehood, or reach an impasse where an agent tends to adopt the opinion that is in internal concordance with its innate preference with the outcome that consensus is never achieved.

Quantum anonymous voting with unweighted continuous-variable graph states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Ying; Feng, Yanyan; Zeng, Guihua

2016-08-01

Motivated by the revealing topological structures of continuous-variable graph state (CVGS), we investigate the design of quantum voting scheme, which has serious advantages over the conventional ones in terms of efficiency and graphicness. Three phases are included, i.e., the preparing phase, the voting phase and the counting phase, together with three parties, i.e., the voters, the tallyman and the ballot agency. Two major voting operations are performed on the yielded CVGS in the voting process, namely the local rotation transformation and the displacement operation. The voting information is carried by the CVGS established before hand, whose persistent entanglement is deployed to keep the privacy of votes and the anonymity of legal voters. For practical applications, two CVGS-based quantum ballots, i.e., comparative ballot and anonymous survey, are specially designed, followed by the extended ballot schemes for the binary-valued and multi-valued ballots under some constraints for the voting design. Security is ensured by entanglement of the CVGS, the voting operations and the laws of quantum mechanics. The proposed schemes can be implemented using the standard off-the-shelf components when compared to discrete-variable quantum voting schemes attributing to the characteristics of the CV-based quantum cryptography.

Quantum generalized observables framework for psychological data: a case of preference reversals in US elections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khrennikova, Polina; Haven, Emmanuel

2017-10-01

Politics is regarded as a vital area of public choice theory, and it is strongly relying on the assumptions of voters' rationality and as such, stability of preferences. However, recent opinion polls and real election outcomes in the USA have shown that voters often engage in `ticket splitting', by exhibiting contrasting party support in Congressional and Presidential elections (cf. Khrennikova 2014 Phys. Scripta T163, 014010 (doi:10.1088/0031-8949/2014/T163/014010); Khrennikova & Haven 2016 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 374, 20150106 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2015.0106); Smith et al. 1999 Am. J. Polit. Sci. 43, 737-764 (doi:10.2307/2991833)). Such types of preference reversals cannot be mathematically captured via the formula of total probability, thus showing that voters' decision making is at variance with the classical probabilistic information processing framework. In recent work, we have shown that quantum probability describes well the violation of Bayesian rationality in statistical data of voting in US elections, through the so-called interference effects of probability amplitudes. This paper is proposing a novel generalized observables framework of voting behaviour, by using the statistical data collected and analysed in previous studies by Khrennikova (Khrennikova 2015 Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 8951, 196-209) and Khrennikova & Haven (Khrennikova & Haven 2016 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 374, 20150106 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2015.0106)). This framework aims to overcome the main problems associated with the quantum probabilistic representation of psychological data, namely the non-double stochasticity of transition probability matrices. We develop a simplified construction of generalized positive operator valued measures by formulating special non-orthonormal bases with respect to these operators. This article is part of the themed issue `Second quantum revolution: foundational questions'.

78 FR 57854 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-20

... acquire 100 percent of the voting shares of Metropolitan National Bank, Little Rock, Arkansas. Board of... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

78 FR 38038 - Change in Bank Control Notices; Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-25

... Livingston, Tennessee; to join the currently approved control group of The Jack Windle Irrevocable Life.... Collectively, the new control group controls 100 percent of the voting shares of Overton Financial Services... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Change in Bank Control Notices; Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers...

75 FR 25010 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Stock Clearing Corporation of Philadelphia; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-06

...-025, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (``NASDAQ Exchange'') sought and received Commission approval to... requirements apply to elections of directors and were not amended. Each share of common stock has one vote,\\8...-Regulatory Organizations; Stock Clearing Corporation of Philadelphia; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

77 FR 18818 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-28

...., Bluefield, Virginia; to acquire 100 percent of the voting shares of Peoples Bank of Virginia, Richmond... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 27645 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-12

... Bank Holding Company, and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of Peoples State Bank, both in De... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

75 FR 11888 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-12

... acquiring 87.31 percent of the voting shares of People's Bank of Seneca, Seneca, Missouri. B. Federal... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 12057 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-28

... indirectly acquire voting shares of The Peoples National Bank, both in Easley, South Carolina, Bank of... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

12 CFR 708a.5 - Notice to NCUA.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... of directors approves a proposal to convert, it must provide the Regional Director with notice of its... part of the notice required by § 708a.5(a) if its state chartering law permits it to convert to a..., including any internal governance requirements, such as the requisite membership vote for conversion and the...

75 FR 70201 - Fresno County Resource Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-17

... of the January 12 meeting will be to review new project proposals that were submitted by the January 7, 2011 deadline. The purpose of the meeting on January 26 will be to vote and approve projects to... by January 7, 2011 to the Forest Service. Agenda items to be covered include: (1) Review project...

77 FR 45330 - Fresno County Resource Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-31

... of the August 15 and 29 meetings will be to review new project proposals. The purpose of the meeting on September 12 will be to vote and approve projects to be funded under the Secure Rural Schools and... Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The Fresno County Resource Advisory Committee will be...

8 CFR 245.18 - How can physicians (with approved Forms I-140) that are serving in medically underserved areas or...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... period following Service approval of a second preference employment-based immigrant visa petition. (b) Do... with Form I-485. The medical examination report shall be submitted with the documentary evidence noting... Form I-140 with a national interest waiver based upon full-time clinical practice in an underserved...

8 CFR 245.18 - How can physicians (with approved Forms I-140) that are serving in medically underserved areas or...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... period following Service approval of a second preference employment-based immigrant visa petition. (b) Do... with Form I-485. The medical examination report shall be submitted with the documentary evidence noting... Form I-140 with a national interest waiver based upon full-time clinical practice in an underserved...

A triangle voting algorithm based on double feature constraints for star sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Qiaoyun; Zhong, Xuyang

2018-02-01

A novel autonomous star identification algorithm is presented in this study. In the proposed algorithm, each sensor star constructs multi-triangle with its bright neighbor stars and obtains its candidates by triangle voting process, in which the triangle is considered as the basic voting element. In order to accelerate the speed of this algorithm and reduce the required memory for star database, feature extraction is carried out to reduce the dimension of triangles and each triangle is described by its base and height. During the identification period, the voting scheme based on double feature constraints is proposed to implement triangle voting. This scheme guarantees that only the catalog star satisfying two features can vote for the sensor star, which improves the robustness towards false stars. The simulation and real star image test demonstrate that compared with the other two algorithms, the proposed algorithm is more robust towards position noise, magnitude noise and false stars.

SWT voting-based color reduction for text detection in natural scene images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikica, Andrej; Peer, Peter

2013-12-01

In this article, we propose a novel stroke width transform (SWT) voting-based color reduction method for detecting text in natural scene images. Unlike other text detection approaches that mostly rely on either text structure or color, the proposed method combines both by supervising text-oriented color reduction process with additional SWT information. SWT pixels mapped to color space vote in favor of the color they correspond to. Colors receiving high SWT vote most likely belong to text areas and are blocked from being mean-shifted away. Literature does not explicitly address SWT search direction issue; thus, we propose an adaptive sub-block method for determining correct SWT direction. Both SWT voting-based color reduction and SWT direction determination methods are evaluated on binary (text/non-text) images obtained from a challenging Computer Vision Lab optical character recognition database. SWT voting-based color reduction method outperforms the state-of-the-art text-oriented color reduction approach.

Classification of voting algorithms for N-version software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsarev, R. Yu; Durmuş, M. S.; Üstoglu, I.; Morozov, V. A.

2018-05-01

A voting algorithm in N-version software is a crucial component that evaluates the execution of each of the N versions and determines the correct result. Obviously, the result of the voting algorithm determines the outcome of the N-version software in general. Thus, the choice of the voting algorithm is a vital issue. A lot of voting algorithms were already developed and they may be selected for implementation based on the specifics of the analysis of input data. However, the voting algorithms applied in N-version software are not classified. This article presents an overview of classic and recent voting algorithms used in N-version software and the authors' classification of the voting algorithms. Moreover, the steps of the voting algorithms are presented and the distinctive features of the voting algorithms in Nversion software are defined.

Counseling about firearms: proposed legislation is a threat to physicians and their patients.

PubMed

Vernick, Jon S; Teret, Stephen P; Smith, Gary A; Webster, Daniel W

2006-11-01

In early 2006, 2 separate but virtually identical bills were introduced in the Virginia and West Virginia legislatures that would have profoundly affected the relationship between a physician and his or her patients. Each bill would have prohibited a physician from asking a patient if he or she owned firearms for the purpose of counseling that patient about ways to reduce risks associated with firearms. Penalties for violation of the bills included revocation of a physician's license to practice. The Virginia bill was initially approved by its state House of Delegates by a vote of 88 to 11. It was ultimately defeated in a Virginia Senate committee. The West Virginia bill did not receive a vote during the 2006 legislative session. Although neither bill became law this year, this type of bill is likely to reappear in future legislative sessions. The Virginia and West Virginia bills were contrary to the best-practices recommendations of medical societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. Anticipatory guidance regarding firearms can indeed reduce risks to patients. Yet, the bills would have preferred the judgment of legislators over physicians regarding this aspect of the practice of medicine. In addition, the 2 bills raise legal issues regarding both medical malpractice and the First Amendment protection of the freedom of speech. The Virginia and West Virginia bills would have treated risks associated with firearms differently from other hazards and interfered with a physician's ability to protect his or her patients. The Virginia bill was defeated, in part, through the efforts of physicians to educate legislators. However, physicians must remain prepared to respond to similar state legislative initiatives in the future.

Irrelevant events affect voters' evaluations of government performance.

PubMed

Healy, Andrew J; Malhotra, Neil; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung

2010-07-20

Does information irrelevant to government performance affect voting behavior? If so, how does this help us understand the mechanisms underlying voters' retrospective assessments of candidates' performance in office? To precisely test for the effects of irrelevant information, we explore the electoral impact of local college football games just before an election, irrelevant events that government has nothing to do with and for which no government response would be expected. We find that a win in the 10 d before Election Day causes the incumbent to receive an additional 1.61 percentage points of the vote in Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential elections, with the effect being larger for teams with stronger fan support. In addition to conducting placebo tests based on postelection games, we demonstrate these effects by using the betting market's estimate of a team's probability of winning the game before it occurs to isolate the surprise component of game outcomes. We corroborate these aggregate-level results with a survey that we conducted during the 2009 NCAA men's college basketball tournament, where we find that surprising wins and losses affect presidential approval. An experiment embedded within the survey also indicates that personal well-being may influence voting decisions on a subconscious level. We find that making people more aware of the reasons for their current state of mind reduces the effect that irrelevant events have on their opinions. These findings underscore the subtle power of irrelevant events in shaping important real-world decisions and suggest ways in which decision making can be improved.

Irrelevant events affect voters' evaluations of government performance

PubMed Central

Healy, Andrew J.; Malhotra, Neil; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung

2010-01-01

Does information irrelevant to government performance affect voting behavior? If so, how does this help us understand the mechanisms underlying voters’ retrospective assessments of candidates’ performance in office? To precisely test for the effects of irrelevant information, we explore the electoral impact of local college football games just before an election, irrelevant events that government has nothing to do with and for which no government response would be expected. We find that a win in the 10 d before Election Day causes the incumbent to receive an additional 1.61 percentage points of the vote in Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential elections, with the effect being larger for teams with stronger fan support. In addition to conducting placebo tests based on postelection games, we demonstrate these effects by using the betting market's estimate of a team's probability of winning the game before it occurs to isolate the surprise component of game outcomes. We corroborate these aggregate-level results with a survey that we conducted during the 2009 NCAA men's college basketball tournament, where we find that surprising wins and losses affect presidential approval. An experiment embedded within the survey also indicates that personal well-being may influence voting decisions on a subconscious level. We find that making people more aware of the reasons for their current state of mind reduces the effect that irrelevant events have on their opinions. These findings underscore the subtle power of irrelevant events in shaping important real-world decisions and suggest ways in which decision making can be improved. PMID:20615955

Statistical detection of systematic election irregularities

PubMed Central

Klimek, Peter; Yegorov, Yuri; Hanel, Rudolf; Thurner, Stefan

2012-01-01

Democratic societies are built around the principle of free and fair elections, and that each citizen’s vote should count equally. National elections can be regarded as large-scale social experiments, where people are grouped into usually large numbers of electoral districts and vote according to their preferences. The large number of samples implies statistical consequences for the polling results, which can be used to identify election irregularities. Using a suitable data representation, we find that vote distributions of elections with alleged fraud show a kurtosis substantially exceeding the kurtosis of normal elections, depending on the level of data aggregation. As an example, we show that reported irregularities in recent Russian elections are, indeed, well-explained by systematic ballot stuffing. We develop a parametric model quantifying the extent to which fraudulent mechanisms are present. We formulate a parametric test detecting these statistical properties in election results. Remarkably, this technique produces robust outcomes with respect to the resolution of the data and therefore, allows for cross-country comparisons. PMID:23010929

Statistical detection of systematic election irregularities.

PubMed

Klimek, Peter; Yegorov, Yuri; Hanel, Rudolf; Thurner, Stefan

2012-10-09

Democratic societies are built around the principle of free and fair elections, and that each citizen's vote should count equally. National elections can be regarded as large-scale social experiments, where people are grouped into usually large numbers of electoral districts and vote according to their preferences. The large number of samples implies statistical consequences for the polling results, which can be used to identify election irregularities. Using a suitable data representation, we find that vote distributions of elections with alleged fraud show a kurtosis substantially exceeding the kurtosis of normal elections, depending on the level of data aggregation. As an example, we show that reported irregularities in recent Russian elections are, indeed, well-explained by systematic ballot stuffing. We develop a parametric model quantifying the extent to which fraudulent mechanisms are present. We formulate a parametric test detecting these statistical properties in election results. Remarkably, this technique produces robust outcomes with respect to the resolution of the data and therefore, allows for cross-country comparisons.

The influence of political candidates' facial appearance on older and younger adults' voting choices and actual electoral success

PubMed Central

Franklin, Robert G.; Zebrowitz, Leslie A.

2017-01-01

Younger adults (YA) judgments of political candidates' competence from facial appearance accurately predict electoral success. Whether this is true for older adults (OA) has not been investigated despite the fact that OA are more likely to vote than YA and may respond differently to particular facial qualities. We examined whether OA and YA ratings of competence, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and babyfaceness of opposing candidates in US Senate elections independently predicted their own vote choices and actual election outcomes. OA and YA ratings of attractiveness, competence, and trustworthiness positively predicted their choices, but the effect of competence was weaker for OA. Babyfaceness negatively predicted OA, but not YA, choices. OA and YA competence ratings equally predicted the actual election winners, while OA, but not YA, attractiveness ratings did so. Trustworthy and babyface ratings did not predict actual winners. These findings have implications for understanding age differences in candidate preferences and the prediction of election outcomes. PMID:29188221

Vote Stuffing Control in IPTV-based Recommender Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhatt, Rajen

Vote stuffing is a general problem in the functioning of the content rating-based recommender systems. Currently IPTV viewers browse various contents based on the program ratings. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy clustering-based approach to remove the effects of vote stuffing and consider only the genuine ratings for the programs over multiple genres. The approach requires only one authentic rating, which is generally available from recommendation system administrators or program broadcasters. The entire process is automated using fuzzy c-means clustering. Computational experiments performed over one real-world program rating database shows that the proposed approach is very efficient for controlling vote stuffing.

7 CFR 4290.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in RBIC before approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control... Changes in Control Or Ownership of Rbic § 4290.420 Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights... proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such ownership interest (including directly...

7 CFR 4290.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in RBIC before approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control... Changes in Control Or Ownership of Rbic § 4290.420 Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights... proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such ownership interest (including directly...

7 CFR 4290.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in RBIC before approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control... Changes in Control Or Ownership of Rbic § 4290.420 Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights... proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such ownership interest (including directly...

7 CFR 4290.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in RBIC before approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control... Changes in Control Or Ownership of Rbic § 4290.420 Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights... proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such ownership interest (including directly...

76 FR 6009 - Shareholder Approval of Executive Compensation and Golden Parachute Compensation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-02

...)(1) requires that ``[n]ot less frequently than once every 3 years, a proxy or consent or... Exchange Act, requiring that, ``[n]ot less frequently than once every 6 years, a proxy or consent or... determine whether [the say- on-pay vote] will occur every 1, 2, or 3 years.'' \\20\\ As discussed below, this...

76 FR 17422 - Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee; Notice of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-29

..., and vote on information related to the premarket approval application (PMA) for the Augment Bone Graft, sponsored by Biomimetic Therapeutics, Inc. The intended use of the device is as an alternative bone grafting substitute to autologous bone graft in applications to facilitate fusion in the ankle and foot without...

Board Members, the Public, and Fiscal Welfare of School Districts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vincent, William S.

1967-01-01

The ways in which the following three factors influence a large-city school district's "fiscal performance" are investigated: (1) The educational and occupational status of school board members, (2) the effect of public vote on the budget, and (3) the effect of the size of the school district. A regression of certain budget approval variables,…

75 FR 66725 - National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Proposes To Revise Codes and Standards

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-29

... Technical Committee by a formal written ballot. If the ROP does not receive approval by a two-thirds vote.... Following the completion of the Proposal and Comment periods, there is a further opportunity for debate and... the debate and consideration of motions to amend the Report. Before making an allowable motion at an...

Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3) to approve the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline, and for other purposes.

THOMAS, 113th Congress

Rep. Webster, Daniel [R-FL-10

2013-05-21

House - 05/22/2013 On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by recorded vote: 228 - 185 (Roll no. 168). (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Agreed to in HouseHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

75 FR 36102 - General and Plastic Surgery Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee; Notice of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-24

... will discuss, make recommendations, and vote on premarket approval application for MelaFind, sponsored by MELA Sciences, Inc. MelaFind is a non-invasive computer vision system intended to assist in the... characteristics of melanoma, before a final decision to biopsy has been rendered. MelaFind acquires and displays...

California's Proposition 227: Implications and Costs of the Unz Initiative.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Council of the Great City Schools, Washington, DC.

Voters in California will vote June 2, 1998 to decide the fate of Proposition 227, a measure proposed by businessman Ron Unz that would substantially change the way that students who are not proficient in English are taught. If approved by the voters, Proposition 227, the Unz Initiative, would essentially eliminate bilingual education programs in…

The Development and Recognition of Homeland Security Law

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

Facilitation” (CTPAT)90; “ AML / CFT compliance91”; Bioshield92; two votes for Legislative and/or Government relations; “Implications for Intellectual...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THE DEVELOPMENT AND...RECOGNITION OF HOMELAND SECURITY LAW by Michael C. McDaniel March 2007 Thesis Advisor: Chris Bellavita Second Reader

75 FR 68846 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-09

... business combination for which the Company must file and furnish a proxy or information statement subject... combination is being considered. If a shareholder vote on the business combination is held, [(e) Until the... working capital purposes) if the business combination is approved and consummated. A Company may establish...

75 FR 25022 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-06

... NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (``NASDAQ Exchange'') sought Commission approval to adopt these By-Laws changes... following applies to elections of directors and were not amended. Each share of common stock has one vote,\\6... election of directors at which a quorum is present is duly elected to the Board. Under Corporate Governance...

76 FR 30361 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-25

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 33737 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-07

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 2063 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-13

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

78 FR 28219 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-14

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 24489 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-02

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

75 FR 68789 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-09

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 68188 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-03

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 24492 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-24

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 28597 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-15

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 35386 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-13

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 36538 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-22

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 66304 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-26

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 38064 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-26

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 53900 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-30

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

75 FR 69078 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-10

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

77 FR 63833 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-17

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 5178 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-28

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 79190 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-21

... ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 70722 - Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-15

... percent of the voting shares of The Bank of East Asia, Limited, Hong Kong S.A.R., Peoples Republic of... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company...

76 FR 67784 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Y-Exchange, Inc.; Order Approving Proposed Rule Change To...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-02

... connection with this reclassification, the Exchange has proposed certain voting rights,\\4\\ transfer... Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Act''),\\1\\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\\2\\ a proposed rule change to amend... Exchange Act Release No. 65299 (September 8, 2011), 76 FR 56833 (September 14, 2011) (``Notice''). II...

12 CFR 152.4 - Charter amendments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... this part, shall be approved at the time of adoption, if adopted without change and filed with the OCC... of each such class]. The shares may be issued from time to time as authorized by the board of...) shall entitle the holders of any class of a series of capital stock to vote as a separate class or...

Senate Panel Votes to Cut Lender Subsidies and Increase Student Aid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Field, Kelly

2007-01-01

The Senate education committee approved a pair of bills that would reduce government subsidies to student-loan companies, increase student aid, and set higher-education policy for the next five years. The Senate's budget-reconciliation measure would use the savings derived from reducing subsidies to student-loan companies to pay down a portion of…

Digital herders and phase transition in a voting model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hisakado, M.; Mori, S.

2011-07-01

In this paper, we discuss a voting model with two candidates, C1 and C2. We set two types of voters—herders and independents. The voting of independent voters is based on their fundamental values; on the other hand, the voting of herders is based on the number of votes. Herders always select the majority of the previous r votes, which are visible to them. We call them digital herders. We can accurately calculate the distribution of votes for special cases. When r >= 3, we find that a phase transition occurs at the upper limit of t, where t is the discrete time (or number of votes). As the fraction of herders increases, the model features a phase transition beyond which a state where most voters make the correct choice coexists with one where most of them are wrong. On the other hand, when r < 3, there is no phase transition. In this case, the herders' performance is the same as that of the independent voters. Finally, we recognize the behavior of human beings by conducting simple experiments.

The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections

PubMed Central

Epstein, Robert; Robertson, Ronald E.

2015-01-01

Internet search rankings have a significant impact on consumer choices, mainly because users trust and choose higher-ranked results more than lower-ranked results. Given the apparent power of search rankings, we asked whether they could be manipulated to alter the preferences of undecided voters in democratic elections. Here we report the results of five relevant double-blind, randomized controlled experiments, using a total of 4,556 undecided voters representing diverse demographic characteristics of the voting populations of the United States and India. The fifth experiment is especially notable in that it was conducted with eligible voters throughout India in the midst of India’s 2014 Lok Sabha elections just before the final votes were cast. The results of these experiments demonstrate that (i) biased search rankings can shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more, (ii) the shift can be much higher in some demographic groups, and (iii) search ranking bias can be masked so that people show no awareness of the manipulation. We call this type of influence, which might be applicable to a variety of attitudes and beliefs, the search engine manipulation effect. Given that many elections are won by small margins, our results suggest that a search engine company has the power to influence the results of a substantial number of elections with impunity. The impact of such manipulations would be especially large in countries dominated by a single search engine company. PMID:26243876

The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections.

PubMed

Epstein, Robert; Robertson, Ronald E

2015-08-18

Internet search rankings have a significant impact on consumer choices, mainly because users trust and choose higher-ranked results more than lower-ranked results. Given the apparent power of search rankings, we asked whether they could be manipulated to alter the preferences of undecided voters in democratic elections. Here we report the results of five relevant double-blind, randomized controlled experiments, using a total of 4,556 undecided voters representing diverse demographic characteristics of the voting populations of the United States and India. The fifth experiment is especially notable in that it was conducted with eligible voters throughout India in the midst of India's 2014 Lok Sabha elections just before the final votes were cast. The results of these experiments demonstrate that (i) biased search rankings can shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more, (ii) the shift can be much higher in some demographic groups, and (iii) search ranking bias can be masked so that people show no awareness of the manipulation. We call this type of influence, which might be applicable to a variety of attitudes and beliefs, the search engine manipulation effect. Given that many elections are won by small margins, our results suggest that a search engine company has the power to influence the results of a substantial number of elections with impunity. The impact of such manipulations would be especially large in countries dominated by a single search engine company.

Measuring Ethnic Preferences in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Mobile Advertising

PubMed Central

Weidmann, Nils B.

2016-01-01

We present a field experiment that uses geo-referenced smartphone advertisements to measure ethnic preferences at a highly disaggregated level. Different types of banners advertising a vote matching tool are randomly displayed to mobile Internet users in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while recording their spatial coordinates. Differences in the response (click) rate to different ethnic cues on these banners are used to measure temporal and spatial variation in ethnic preferences among the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our study lays out the theoretical and practical underpinnings of this technology and discusses its potential for future applications, but also highlights limitations of this approach. PMID:28005924

Measuring Ethnic Preferences in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Mobile Advertising.

PubMed

Nisser, Annerose; Weidmann, Nils B

2016-01-01

We present a field experiment that uses geo-referenced smartphone advertisements to measure ethnic preferences at a highly disaggregated level. Different types of banners advertising a vote matching tool are randomly displayed to mobile Internet users in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while recording their spatial coordinates. Differences in the response (click) rate to different ethnic cues on these banners are used to measure temporal and spatial variation in ethnic preferences among the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our study lays out the theoretical and practical underpinnings of this technology and discusses its potential for future applications, but also highlights limitations of this approach.

Investigation of Eligible Picture Categories for Use as Environmental Cues in Dementia-Sensitive Environments.

PubMed

Motzek, Tom; Bueter, Kathrin; Marquardt, Gesine

2017-07-01

Environmental cues, such as pictures, could be helpful in improving room-finding and wayfinding abilities among older patients. The aim of this study was to identify picture categories that are preferred and easily remembered by older patients and cognitively impaired patients and which therefore might be suitable for use as environmental cues in acute care settings. Twelve pictures were presented to a sample of older patients ( n = 37). The pictures represented different categories: familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar), type of shot (close-up vs. wide shot), and picture content (nature vs. animal vs. urban). We tested the patients' votes of preference and abilities to identify and immediately recall pictures. Cognitively impaired patients ( n = 14) were assessed by the abbreviated mental test and the mini mental state examination and were compared with patients without cognitive impairments ( n = 23) using a repeated measures analysis of variance. The results showed a main effect of familiarity on positive vote and recall of pictures. The absence of interaction effects of familiarity and group indicated an overall impact of familiarity on the sample. Within cognitively impaired patients, a significant difference in recall of picture content between urban (20%) and animal (9%) was found. Pictures, which patients were able to relate to in terms of familiarity and the characteristics urban and nature, seem to be suitable for use as environmental cues. Besides functioning as such, we assume, based on literature, that pictures could further enhance the ambiance or serve as prompts for communication and interaction.

Two kinds of phase transitions in a voting model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hisakado, M.; Mori, S.

2012-08-01

In this paper, we discuss a voting model with two candidates, C0 and C1. We consider two types of voters—herders and independents. The voting of independents is based on their fundamental values, while the voting of herders is based on the number of previous votes. We can identify two kinds of phase transitions. One is an information cascade transition similar to a phase transition seen in the Ising model. The other is a transition of super and normal diffusions. These phase transitions coexist. We compared our results to the conclusions of experiments and identified the phase transitions in the upper limit of the time t by using the analysis of human behavior obtained from experiments.

Purple States in the 2016 Presidential Election

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shelley, Fred M.; Hitt, Ashley M.

2016-01-01

Given the nature of the Electoral College system, the two major political parties concentrate on winning the electoral votes of those states in which the preference of voters are divided evenly. Thus, the parties and their candidates ignore states such as Wyoming and Oklahoma, which are reliably Republican, and they ignore states such as…

Nutritional Considerations in Pediatric Pancreatitis: A Position Paper from the NASPGHAN Pancreas Committee, ESPGHAN Pancreas Working Group.

PubMed

Abu-El-Haija, Maisam; Uc, Aliye; Werlin, Steven L; Freeman, A Jay; Georgieva, Miglena; Pavkov, Danijela Jojkić -; Kalnins, Daina; Kochavi, Brigitte; Koot, Bart G P; Van Biervliet, Stephanie; Walkowiak, Jaroslaw; Wilschanski, Michael; Morinville, Veronique D

2018-05-08

Wide variations exist in how physicians manage the nutritional aspects of children affected by acute pancreatitis (AP), acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP) and chronic (CP) pancreatitis. Better consensus for optimal management is needed. This consensus statement on nutrition in pediatric pancreatic diseases was developed through a joint ESPGHAN-NASPGHAN working group that performed an evidence-based search of the literature on nutrition in AP, ARP, and CP with a focus on pediatrics. The literature was summarized, quality of evidence reviewed, and expert recommendations developed. The authorship met to discuss the evidence and statements. Voting on recommendations occurred over two rounds based on feedback. A consensus of at least 75% was required to approve a recommendation. Areas requiring further research were identified. The literature on nutrition in pediatric pancreatitis is limited. Children with mild AP benefit from starting an early nutritional regimen in the course of the attack. Early nutrition should be attempted in severe AP when possible; enteral nutrition is preferred over parenteral nutrition. Children with ARP are likely to tolerate and benefit from a regular diet. Children with CP need ongoing assessment for growth and nutritional deficiencies, exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies. This document presents the first authoritative recommendations on nutritional considerations in pediatric pancreatitis. Future research should address the gaps in knowledge particularly relating to optimal nutrition for AP in children, role of diet or dietary supplements on recurrent attacks of pancreatitis and pain episodes, monitoring practices to detect early growth and nutritional deficiencies in CP and identifying risk factors that predispose children to these deficiencies.

Stakeholder Priorities for Comparative Effectiveness Research in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

PubMed Central

Lindenauer, Peter K.; Au, David H.; Carson, Shannon S.; Lee, Todd A.; McBurnie, Mary Ann; Naureckas, Edward T.; Vollmer, William M.; Mularski, Richard A.

2013-01-01

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is intended to address the expressed needs of patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders. Representatives of 54 stakeholder groups with an interest in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) participated in workshops convened by the COPD Outcomes-based Network for Clinical Effectiveness and Research Translation (CONCERT) over a 2-year period. Year 1 focused on chronic care and care coordination. Year 2 focused on acute care and transitions in care between healthcare settings. Discussions and provisional voting were conducted via teleconferences and e-mail exchanges before the workshop. Final prioritization votes occurred after in-person discussions at the workshop. We used a modified Delphi approach to facilitate discussions and consensus building. To more easily quantify preferences and to evaluate the internal consistency of rankings, the Analytic Hierarchy Process was incorporated in Year 2. Results of preworkshop and final workshop voting often differed, suggesting that prioritization efforts relying solely on requests for topics from stakeholder groups without in-person discussion may provide different research priorities. Research priorities varied across stakeholder groups, but generally focused on studies to evaluate different approaches to healthcare delivery (e.g., spirometry for diagnosis and treatment, integrated healthcare strategies during transitions in care) rather than head-to-head comparisons of medications. This research agenda may help to inform groups intending to respond to CER funding opportunities in COPD. The methodologies used, detailed in the online supplement, may also help to inform prioritization efforts for CER in other health conditions. PMID:23155144

Stakeholder priorities for comparative effectiveness research in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a workshop report.

PubMed

Krishnan, Jerry A; Lindenauer, Peter K; Au, David H; Carson, Shannon S; Lee, Todd A; McBurnie, Mary Ann; Naureckas, Edward T; Vollmer, William M; Mularski, Richard A

2013-02-01

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is intended to address the expressed needs of patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders. Representatives of 54 stakeholder groups with an interest in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) participated in workshops convened by the COPD Outcomes-based Network for Clinical Effectiveness and Research Translation (CONCERT) over a 2-year period. Year 1 focused on chronic care and care coordination. Year 2 focused on acute care and transitions in care between healthcare settings. Discussions and provisional voting were conducted via teleconferences and e-mail exchanges before the workshop. Final prioritization votes occurred after in-person discussions at the workshop. We used a modified Delphi approach to facilitate discussions and consensus building. To more easily quantify preferences and to evaluate the internal consistency of rankings, the Analytic Hierarchy Process was incorporated in Year 2. Results of preworkshop and final workshop voting often differed, suggesting that prioritization efforts relying solely on requests for topics from stakeholder groups without in-person discussion may provide different research priorities. Research priorities varied across stakeholder groups, but generally focused on studies to evaluate different approaches to healthcare delivery (e.g., spirometry for diagnosis and treatment, integrated healthcare strategies during transitions in care) rather than head-to-head comparisons of medications. This research agenda may help to inform groups intending to respond to CER funding opportunities in COPD. The methodologies used, detailed in the online supplement, may also help to inform prioritization efforts for CER in other health conditions.

Anonymous voting for multi-dimensional CV quantum system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rong-Hua, Shi; Yi, Xiao; Jin-Jing, Shi; Ying, Guo; Moon-Ho, Lee

2016-06-01

We investigate the design of anonymous voting protocols, CV-based binary-valued ballot and CV-based multi-valued ballot with continuous variables (CV) in a multi-dimensional quantum cryptosystem to ensure the security of voting procedure and data privacy. The quantum entangled states are employed in the continuous variable quantum system to carry the voting information and assist information transmission, which takes the advantage of the GHZ-like states in terms of improving the utilization of quantum states by decreasing the number of required quantum states. It provides a potential approach to achieve the efficient quantum anonymous voting with high transmission security, especially in large-scale votes. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61272495, 61379153, and 61401519), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20130162110012), and the MEST-NRF of Korea (Grant No. 2012-002521).

Recognition of medication information from discharge summaries using ensembles of classifiers.

PubMed

Doan, Son; Collier, Nigel; Xu, Hua; Pham, Hoang Duy; Tu, Minh Phuong

2012-05-07

Extraction of clinical information such as medications or problems from clinical text is an important task of clinical natural language processing (NLP). Rule-based methods are often used in clinical NLP systems because they are easy to adapt and customize. Recently, supervised machine learning methods have proven to be effective in clinical NLP as well. However, combining different classifiers to further improve the performance of clinical entity recognition systems has not been investigated extensively. Combining classifiers into an ensemble classifier presents both challenges and opportunities to improve performance in such NLP tasks. We investigated ensemble classifiers that used different voting strategies to combine outputs from three individual classifiers: a rule-based system, a support vector machine (SVM) based system, and a conditional random field (CRF) based system. Three voting methods were proposed and evaluated using the annotated data sets from the 2009 i2b2 NLP challenge: simple majority, local SVM-based voting, and local CRF-based voting. Evaluation on 268 manually annotated discharge summaries from the i2b2 challenge showed that the local CRF-based voting method achieved the best F-score of 90.84% (94.11% Precision, 87.81% Recall) for 10-fold cross-validation. We then compared our systems with the first-ranked system in the challenge by using the same training and test sets. Our system based on majority voting achieved a better F-score of 89.65% (93.91% Precision, 85.76% Recall) than the previously reported F-score of 89.19% (93.78% Precision, 85.03% Recall) by the first-ranked system in the challenge. Our experimental results using the 2009 i2b2 challenge datasets showed that ensemble classifiers that combine individual classifiers into a voting system could achieve better performance than a single classifier in recognizing medication information from clinical text. It suggests that simple strategies that can be easily implemented such as majority voting could have the potential to significantly improve clinical entity recognition.

Redistribution through social health insurance: evidence on citizen preferences.

PubMed

Pfarr, Christian; Schmid, Andreas

2016-06-01

The extent of social health insurance (SHI) and supplementary private insurance is frequently analyzed in public choice. Most of these analyses build on the model developed by Gouveia (1997), who defines the extent of SHI as consequence of a choice by self-interested voters. In this model, an indicator reflecting individuals' relative income position and relative risk of falling ill determines the voting decision. Up to now, no empirical evidence for this key assumption has been available. We test the effect of this indicator on individuals' preferences for the extent of SHI in a setting with mandatory SHI that can be supplemented by private insurance. The data is based on a DCE conducted in the field with a representative sample of 1538 German citizens in 2012. Conditional logit and latent class models are used to analyze preference heterogeneity. Our findings strongly support the assumptions of the models. Individuals likely to benefit from public coverage show a positive marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for both a shift away from other beneficiary groups toward the sick and an expansion of publicly financed resources, and the expected net payers have a negative MWTP and prefer lower levels of public coverage.

NCAA's Latest Pay-to-Play Scheme Would Sack Concept of Amateur Student Athlete, Raise Antitrust Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Tom

2014-01-01

Now that members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have voted to approve a sweeping, if not radical, proposal giving the five largest athletic conferences "autonomy" to establish new governance rules regarding a compensation pay package for the recruitment of athletes, some important public policy concerns need to be…

Legislative Review. A Look at Higher Education in Week 7: February 21-25, 2011

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Dakota University System, 2011

2011-01-01

This issue of "Legislative Review" takes a look at the news in higher education from February 21 to 25, 2011. This Legislative Review reports that: (1) HB 1003, the University System budget bill, was approved February 23 as amended by the House Appropriations, Education and Environment Division on a vote of 64-29; (2) Sponsored by…

17 CFR 270.12b-1 - Distribution of shares by registered open-end management investment company.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... agreements, has been approved by a vote of the board of directors of such company, and of the directors who... company's board of directors, and the directors shall review, at least quarterly, a written report of the... directors of the company who are not interested persons of the company and have no direct or indirect...

13 CFR 108.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in NMVC Company before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of..., Structure, or Control Changes in Control Or Ownership of Nmvc Company § 108.420 Prohibition on exercise of... new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such...

13 CFR 108.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in NMVC Company before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of..., Structure, or Control Changes in Control Or Ownership of Nmvc Company § 108.420 Prohibition on exercise of... new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such...

13 CFR 108.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in NMVC Company before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of..., Structure, or Control Changes in Control Or Ownership of Nmvc Company § 108.420 Prohibition on exercise of... new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such...

13 CFR 108.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in NMVC Company before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of..., Structure, or Control Changes in Control Or Ownership of Nmvc Company § 108.420 Prohibition on exercise of... new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such...

13 CFR 108.420 - Prohibition on exercise of ownership or Control rights in NMVC Company before SBA approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Prohibition on exercise of..., Structure, or Control Changes in Control Or Ownership of Nmvc Company § 108.420 Prohibition on exercise of... new owner(s); (b) Permit the proposed new owner(s) to exercise voting rights with respect to such...

76 FR 6167 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Order Approving Proposed Rule Change...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-03

... Amendment No. 1, in Connection With the Proposal of NYSE Euronext To Eliminate the Requirement of an 80... Bylaws to eliminate the requirement that the affirmative vote of the holders of not less than 80% of the... that the proposed rule change to amend the Corporation's Bylaws to eliminate the 80% supermajority...

House battles over UN family planning funds.

PubMed

1997-05-09

The House International Relations Subcommittee on Operations and Human Rights approved HR 1253 by voice vote on April 10, 1997. HR 1253 is a reauthorization of State Department programs for fiscal years 1998 and 1999. Republican anti-choice subcommittee chair Chris Smith inserted language which prohibits the State Department from funding the UNFPA, the UN family planning program. The restriction would only be lifted if President Clinton certifies that the UNFPA has ended all activities in China or that no government-coerced abortions have taken place in China during the previous 12 months. Since neither change is likely, the Smith provision would effectively bar the US from funding the UNFPA, even though the agency does not support abortion services. The State Department authorization was then taken up by the full House International Relations Committee as part of HR 1486, a bill which would reorganize foreign policy operations. By a 23-16 vote on May 6, the committee approved an amendment which deleted the Smith provision and instead stipulated that US funds cannot be used for UNFPA programs in China. Pro-choice representative Tom Campbell sponsored the amendment which deleted the Smith provision. President Clinton's proposed budget for fiscal year 1998 also includes the Campbell provision.

77 FR 3829 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Order Granting Accelerated...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-25

... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34-66192; File No. SR-NYSEArca-2012-02] Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Order Granting Accelerated Approval of a Proposed Rule Amendments to NYSE Arca Rule 9.4 and NYSE Equities Inc. Rules 5.3(d) and 9.4 Relating to Discretionary Proxy Voting on Executive...

Opportunity in a Democratic Society: Race and Economic Status in Higher Education. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.18.06

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Richard C.; Pelfrey, Patricia A.

2006-01-01

In July 1995, the University of California's Board of Regents voted to ban consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions and employment--a ban that was extended to all state agencies when the voters of California approved Proposition 209 in November 1996. This paper discusses the national controversy over affirmative action and analyzes the…

A Bill that Took Longer than a Bachelor's Degree

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Field, Kelly

2008-01-01

It took five years, dozens of drafts, and a total of 14 extensions, but Congress last week was finally on the verge of passing a bill to renew the Higher Education Act, the major law governing federal student aid. The bill, after approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, was headed to the Senate, where a final vote was planned for late last…

A Hough Transform Global Probabilistic Approach to Multiple-Subject Diffusion MRI Tractography

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT A global probabilistic fiber tracking approach based on the voting process provided by...umn.edu 2 ABSTRACT A global probabilistic fiber tracking approach based on the voting process provided by the Hough transform is introduced in...criteria for aligning curves and particularly tracts. In this work, we present a global probabilistic approach inspired by the voting procedure provided

Decisions among the Undecided: Implicit Attitudes Predict Future Voting Behavior of Undecided Voters

PubMed Central

Lundberg, Kristjen B.; Payne, B. Keith

2014-01-01

Implicit attitudes have been suggested as a key to unlock the hidden preferences of undecided voters. Past research, however, offered mixed support for this hypothesis. The present research used a large nationally representative sample and a longitudinal design to examine the predictive utility of implicit and explicit attitude measures in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In our analyses, explicit attitudes toward candidates predicted voting better for decided than undecided voters, but implicit candidate attitudes were predictive of voting for both decided and undecided voters. Extending our examination to implicit and explicit racial attitudes, we found the same pattern. Taken together, these results provide convergent evidence that implicit attitudes predict voting about as well for undecided as for decided voters. We also assessed a novel explanation for these effects by evaluating whether implicit attitudes may predict the choices of undecided voters, in part, because they are neglected when people introspect about their confidence. Consistent with this idea, we found that the extremity of explicit but not implicit attitudes was associated with greater confidence. These analyses shed new light on the utility of implicit measures in predicting future behavior among individuals who feel undecided. Considering the prior studies together with this new evidence, the data seem to be consistent that implicit attitudes may be successful in predicting the behavior of undecided voters. PMID:24489666

Accurate determination of imaging modality using an ensemble of text- and image-based classifiers.

PubMed

Kahn, Charles E; Kalpathy-Cramer, Jayashree; Lam, Cesar A; Eldredge, Christina E

2012-02-01

Imaging modality can aid retrieval of medical images for clinical practice, research, and education. We evaluated whether an ensemble classifier could outperform its constituent individual classifiers in determining the modality of figures from radiology journals. Seventeen automated classifiers analyzed 77,495 images from two radiology journals. Each classifier assigned one of eight imaging modalities--computed tomography, graphic, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, photograph, ultrasound, or radiograph-to each image based on visual and/or textual information. Three physicians determined the modality of 5,000 randomly selected images as a reference standard. A "Simple Vote" ensemble classifier assigned each image to the modality that received the greatest number of individual classifiers' votes. A "Weighted Vote" classifier weighted each individual classifier's vote based on performance over a training set. For each image, this classifier's output was the imaging modality that received the greatest weighted vote score. We measured precision, recall, and F score (the harmonic mean of precision and recall) for each classifier. Individual classifiers' F scores ranged from 0.184 to 0.892. The simple vote and weighted vote classifiers correctly assigned 4,565 images (F score, 0.913; 95% confidence interval, 0.905-0.921) and 4,672 images (F score, 0.934; 95% confidence interval, 0.927-0.941), respectively. The weighted vote classifier performed significantly better than all individual classifiers. An ensemble classifier correctly determined the imaging modality of 93% of figures in our sample. The imaging modality of figures published in radiology journals can be determined with high accuracy, which will improve systems for image retrieval.

Innovative method and equipment for personalized ventilation.

PubMed

Kalmár, F

2015-06-01

At the University of Debrecen, a new method and equipment for personalized ventilation has been developed. This equipment makes it possible to change the airflow direction during operation with a time frequency chosen by the user. The developed office desk with integrated air ducts and control system permits ventilation with 100% outdoor air, 100% recirculated air, or a mix of outdoor and recirculated air in a relative proportion set by the user. It was shown that better comfort can be assured in hot environments if the fresh airflow direction is variable. Analyzing the time step of airflow direction changing, it was found that women prefer smaller time steps and their votes related to thermal comfort sensation are higher than men's votes. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Information Theory and Voting Based Consensus Clustering for Combining Multiple Clusterings of Chemical Structures.

PubMed

Saeed, Faisal; Salim, Naomie; Abdo, Ammar

2013-07-01

Many consensus clustering methods have been applied in different areas such as pattern recognition, machine learning, information theory and bioinformatics. However, few methods have been used for chemical compounds clustering. In this paper, an information theory and voting based algorithm (Adaptive Cumulative Voting-based Aggregation Algorithm A-CVAA) was examined for combining multiple clusterings of chemical structures. The effectiveness of clusterings was evaluated based on the ability of the clustering method to separate active from inactive molecules in each cluster, and the results were compared with Ward's method. The chemical dataset MDL Drug Data Report (MDDR) and the Maximum Unbiased Validation (MUV) dataset were used. Experiments suggest that the adaptive cumulative voting-based consensus method can improve the effectiveness of combining multiple clusterings of chemical structures. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Vector-Ballot Approach for Online Voting Procedures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiayias, Aggelos; Yung, Moti

Looking at current cryptographic-based e-voting protocols, one can distinguish three basic design paradigms (or approaches): (a) Mix-Networks based, (b) Homomorphic Encryption based, and (c) Blind Signatures based. Each of the three possesses different advantages and disadvantages w.r.t. the basic properties of (i) efficient tallying, (ii) universal verifiability, and (iii) allowing write-in ballot capability (in addition to predetermined candidates). In fact, none of the approaches results in a scheme that simultaneously achieves all three. This is unfortunate, since the three basic properties are crucial for efficiency, integrity and versatility (flexibility), respectively. Further, one can argue that a serious business offering of voting technology should offer a flexible technology that achieves various election goals with a single user interface. This motivates our goal, which is to suggest a new "vector-ballot" based approach for secret-ballot e-voting that is based on three new notions: Provably Consistent Vector Ballot Encodings, Shrink-and-Mix Networks and Punch-Hole-Vector-Ballots. At the heart of our approach is the combination of mix networks and homomorphic encryption under a single user interface; given this, it is rather surprising that it achieves much more than any of the previous approaches for e-voting achieved in terms of the basic properties. Our approach is presented in two generic designs called "homomorphic vector-ballots with write-in votes" and "multi-candidate punch-hole vector-ballots"; both of our designs can be instantiated over any homomorphic encryption function.

Modeling thermal sensation in a Mediterranean climate—a comparison of linear and ordinal models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pantavou, Katerina; Lykoudis, Spyridon

2014-08-01

A simple thermo-physiological model of outdoor thermal sensation adjusted with psychological factors is developed aiming to predict thermal sensation in Mediterranean climates. Microclimatic measurements simultaneously with interviews on personal and psychological conditions were carried out in a square, a street canyon and a coastal location of the greater urban area of Athens, Greece. Multiple linear and ordinal regression were applied in order to estimate thermal sensation making allowance for all the recorded parameters or specific, empirically selected, subsets producing so-called extensive and empirical models, respectively. Meteorological, thermo-physiological and overall models - considering psychological factors as well - were developed. Predictions were improved when personal and psychological factors were taken into account as compared to meteorological models. The model based on ordinal regression reproduced extreme values of thermal sensation vote more adequately than the linear regression one, while the empirical model produced satisfactory results in relation to the extensive model. The effects of adaptation and expectation on thermal sensation vote were introduced in the models by means of the exposure time, season and preference related to air temperature and irradiation. The assessment of thermal sensation could be a useful criterion in decision making regarding public health, outdoor spaces planning and tourism.

Architecture of COOPTO Remote Voting Solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silhavy, Radek; Silhavy, Petr; Prokopova, Zdenka

This contribution focuses on investigation of remote electronic voting system, named COOPTO. Researching of suitability of electronic voting solution is forced by necessity of the improvement election process. The COOPTO is based on topical investigation of voting process and their implementation of using modern information and communication technology. The COOPTO allows voters, who are not in their election district, to participate in the democracy process. The aim of this contribution is to describe results of the development of the COOPTO solutions.

77 FR 20079 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Relating...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-03

... dependent, and a majority of annual cash flow is earned during the winter heating season (October through... markets in which they invest), to manage cash flows, to limit exposure to losses due to changes to non-U.S... terms of voting rights, liquidation preference, and distributions. However, rather than receiving cash...

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (84th, Washington, DC, August 5-8, 2001). Advertising Division.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Advertising section of the proceedings contains the following 14 selected papers: "Preparing the Entry-level Advertising Portfolio: Pointing Creative Students in the Right Direction" (Sheri J. Broyles); "Effects of Issue Ads on Candidate Evaluation and Voting Preference: Does Sponsorship Matter?" (Fuyuan Shen and H. Denis…

Lateral orbitofrontal cortex links social impressions to political choices.

PubMed

Xia, Chenjie; Stolle, Dietlind; Gidengil, Elisabeth; Fellows, Lesley K

2015-06-03

Recent studies of political behavior suggest that voting decisions can be influenced substantially by "first-impression" social attributions based on physical appearance. Separate lines of research have implicated the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the judgment of social traits on the one hand and economic decision-making on the other, making this region a plausible candidate for linking social attributions to voting decisions. Here, we asked whether OFC lesions in humans disrupted the ability to judge traits of political candidates or affected how these judgments influenced voting decisions. Seven patients with lateral OFC damage, 18 patients with frontal damage sparing the lateral OFC, and 53 matched healthy participants took part in a simulated election paradigm, in which they voted for real-life (but unknown) candidates based only on photographs of their faces. Consistent with previous work, attributions of "competence" and "attractiveness" based on candidate appearance predicted voting behavior in the healthy control group. Frontal damage did not affect substantially the ability to make competence or attractiveness judgments, but patients with damage to the lateral OFC differed from other groups in how they applied this information when voting. Only attractiveness ratings had any predictive power for voting choices after lateral OFC damage, whereas other frontal patients and healthy controls relied on information about both competence and attractiveness in making their choice. An intact lateral OFC may not be necessary for judgment of social traits based on physical appearance, but it seems to be crucial in applying this information in political decision-making. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/358507-08$15.00/0.

The Design and Implementation of a Disability Services Office Serving Students with ADHD at a Public and a Private Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krauser, Tamara Lane

2017-01-01

As the college student population continues to grow, students are bringing various backgrounds to the higher education classroom. Students with learning disabilities are increasing in rapid numbers. In 2008, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor approved, by a vote of 43 to 1, a bill that would update the Americans with Disabilities Act…

Fwd: Half Empty or Half Full? Florida's Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Standards. Volume: 2, Number: 1. Arresting Insights in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkins, Amy

2005-01-01

In 2002, when its voters approved a ballot measure calling for universal pre- Kindergarten by 2005-06, Florida joined a handful of states in which all children are eligible for free, publicly funded education in the year prior to Kindergarten. The passage of the referendum--which received more votes than Governor Jeb Bush garnered in his victory…

SEC sets guidelines for climate risk

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

2010-04-15

In a 3--2 vote in late January 2010, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the agency in charge of making sure investors are aware of risks associated with financial investments, approved new 'interpretive guidance' for 'disclosure of climate-related business risks.' The new guidelines call for disclosure of anticipated impact of climate change on assets and financial risks associated with compliance costs for existing and pending climate regulations.

Do Online Voting Patterns Reflect Evolved Features of Human Cognition? An Exploratory Empirical Investigation.

PubMed

Priestley, Maria; Mesoudi, Alex

2015-01-01

Online votes or ratings can assist internet users in evaluating the credibility and appeal of the information which they encounter. For example, aggregator websites such as Reddit allow users to up-vote submitted content to make it more prominent, and down-vote content to make it less prominent. Here we argue that decisions over what to up- or down-vote may be guided by evolved features of human cognition. We predict that internet users should be more likely to up-vote content that others have also up-voted (social influence), content that has been submitted by particularly liked or respected users (model-based bias), content that constitutes evolutionarily salient or relevant information (content bias), and content that follows group norms and, in particular, prosocial norms. 489 respondents from the online social voting community Reddit rated the extent to which they felt different traits influenced their voting. Statistical analyses confirmed that norm-following and prosociality, as well as various content biases such as emotional content and originality, were rated as important motivators of voting. Social influence had a smaller effect than expected, while attitudes towards the submitter had little effect. This exploratory empirical investigation suggests that online voting communities can provide an important test-bed for evolutionary theories of human social information use, and that evolved features of human cognition may guide online behaviour just as it guides behaviour in the offline world.

Voting pattern of mental patients in a community state hospital.

PubMed

Klein, M M; Grossman, S A

1967-06-01

The voting pattern of mental patients in a community-based state hospital was studied. Patients were polled on the New York City mayoralty race. A comparison to the vote of the general population revealed that the hospital sample vote resembled most closely the election results of the hospital district. The results highlight the advantage of community-centered mental health facilities, which undertake the treatment and rehabilitation of mental patients under conditions that maintain ties with family and community.

Extracorporeal treatment for valproic acid poisoning: systematic review and recommendations from the EXTRIP workgroup.

PubMed

Ghannoum, Marc; Laliberté, Martin; Nolin, Thomas D; MacTier, Robert; Lavergne, Valery; Hoffman, Robert S; Gosselin, Sophie

2015-06-01

The EXtracorporeal TReatments In Poisoning (EXTRIP) workgroup presents its systematic review and clinical recommendations on the use of extracorporeal treatment (ECTR) in valproic acid (VPA) poisoning. The lead authors reviewed all of the articles from a systematic literature search, extracted the data, summarized the key findings, and proposed structured voting statements following a predetermined format. A two-round modified Delphi method was chosen to reach a consensus on voting statements and the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to quantify disagreement. Anonymous votes were compiled, returned, and discussed in person. A second vote was conducted to determine the final workgroup recommendations. The latest literature search conducted in November 2014 retrieved a total of 79 articles for final qualitative analysis, including one observational study, one uncontrolled cohort study with aggregate analysis, 70 case reports and case series, and 7 pharmacokinetic studies, yielding a very low quality of evidence for all recommendations. Clinical data were reported for 82 overdose patients while pharmaco/toxicokinetic grading was performed in 55 patients. The workgroup concluded that VPA is moderately dialyzable (level of evidence = B) and made the following recommendations: ECTR is recommended in severe VPA poisoning (1D); recommendations for ECTR include a VPA concentration > 1300 mg/L (9000 μmol/L)(1D), the presence of cerebral edema (1D) or shock (1D); suggestions for ECTR include a VPA concentration > 900 mg/L (6250 μmol/L)(2D), coma or respiratory depression requiring mechanical ventilation (2D), acute hyperammonemia (2D), or pH ≤ 7.10 (2D). Cessation of ECTR is indicated when clinical improvement is apparent (1D) or the serum VPA concentration is between 50 and 100 mg/L (350-700 μmol/L)(2D). Intermittent hemodialysis is the preferred ECTR in VPA poisoning (1D). If hemodialysis is not available, then intermittent hemoperfusion (1D) or continuous renal replacement therapy (2D) is an acceptable alternative. VPA is moderately dialyzable in the setting of overdose. ECTR is indicated for VPA poisoning if at least one of the above criteria is present. Intermittent hemodialysis is the preferred ECTR modality in VPA poisoning.

The Food and Drug Administration advisory committees and panels: how they are applied to the drug regulatory process.

PubMed

Ciociola, Arthur A; Karlstadt, Robyn G; Pambianco, Daniel J; Woods, Karen L; Ehrenpreis, Eli D

2014-10-01

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panels and committees play a critical role in advising the FDA on the safety and efficacy of medical devices and drugs marketed in the US. Advisory panel recommendations are used by the FDA to make decisions regarding medical products. Currently, the FDA utilizes over 50 advisory panels that serve the three major FDA centers, including the Centers for Biologics, Drugs and Device Products. Members of an advisory panel typically include academicians, clinicians, consumers, patients, and industry representatives. The FDA establishes the schedules for advisory panel meetings on an annual basis and a panel usually meets several times a year for two consecutive days in Washington, DC. Typically, the advisory panel discusses issues highlighted by the FDA and is then asked to vote a response to the questions posed in advance by the FDA. Advisory panel recommendations have a strong influence on FDA's decision to approve a product, as evidenced by the 214 Advisory Panels FDA convened between January 2008 to November 2012, during which advisory panel members voted to approve the product (or use of the product) ∼74% of the time, with FDA ultimately approving the medical product (or use of the product) ∼79% of the time. The ACG membership are encouraged to consider serving the public's interest by participating in an FDA advisory panel utilizing their expertise for the evaluation of a new drug or medical device, and providing advice about whether the product should be sold in the US.

Diabetes Bingo: Research Prioritization with the Filipino Community

PubMed Central

Oculto, Tessie; Ramones, Emilyn; Caagbay, Cedric R

2010-01-01

This community-based participatory research, conducted in partnership between a European-American academic researcher and a professional group of Filipino nurses, aimed to determine the diabetes research priority for the Filipino community on the island of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i, and to evaluate the multi-voting technique to seek input from the community. The study design was a qualitative, cross-sectional interactive process consisting of an educational presentation followed by data collection from the audience. Ten community presentations about the impact of diabetes on the Filipino community were conducted by a Filipino nurse with participants (N = 265). Following the educational session, the participants selected priorities for research using a multi-vote technique developed as a Diabetes Bingo card. Community voting results identified prevention and a focus on adults as important priorities for research. Based on the results of the multi-voting, the research partners were able to come to consensus on a research priority area of prevention of type 2 diabetes in adults. Multi-voting using a Diabetes Bingo card, preceded by an educational presentation by a Filipino nurse, was a culturally competent community-based participatory research method that gave voice to the participants and direction to the research partners for future projects. The multi-voting technique was readily accepted and enjoyed by participants. PMID:21229487

Senate, 59-40, defeats move to strike limits on Medicaid abortion coverage.

PubMed

1993-10-05

On September 24 1993, the US Senate voted to limit access to abortion services for poor women under Medicaid to cases of rape, incest, or where pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's health. The US House of Representatives had earlier adopted a similar amendment, so now the bill will be sent to the President. The original amendment limited abortion access under Medicaid to only poor women whose life was endangered. Its sponsor proposed to expand coverage to cases of rape and incest based on pragmatic political grounds and knowing that this expansion would include fewer than 100 abortions. Abortion rights groups considered this 1993 expansion of the amendment as a step toward restoring real equity in access to abortion. Nevertheless, like the antiabortion groups, they do not consider it progress. The 5 female Senators vowed to fight to obtain full abortion coverage under Medicaid. The also pointed out to their male colleagues that this amendment discriminates against poor women. Many senators voted for the amendment because they chose the lesser of 2 evils. Many people are concerned that this bill indicates how Congress will treat poor women when health care reform legislation arrives and its concern for all women's right to access to abortion services under government-sponsored programs. More than 40 Senators can clearly see the difference between direct federal funding of abortion and other forms of government involvement. Further, Congress did approve the bill granting federal employees access to abortion services, but it passed by only 1 vote. Abortion rights proponents and abortion opponents should consider these aforementioned facts when preparing for the debate over abortion coverage under health care reform.

Information cascade on networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hisakado, Masato; Mori, Shintaro

2016-05-01

In this paper, we discuss a voting model by considering three different kinds of networks: a random graph, the Barabási-Albert (BA) model, and a fitness model. A voting model represents the way in which public perceptions are conveyed to voters. Our voting model is constructed by using two types of voters-herders and independents-and two candidates. Independents conduct voting based on their fundamental values; on the other hand, herders base their voting on the number of previous votes. Hence, herders vote for the majority candidates and obtain information relating to previous votes from their networks. We discuss the difference between the phases on which the networks depend. Two kinds of phase transitions, an information cascade transition and a super-normal transition, were identified. The first of these is a transition between a state in which most voters make the correct choices and a state in which most of them are wrong. The second is a transition of convergence speed. The information cascade transition prevails when herder effects are stronger than the super-normal transition. In the BA and fitness models, the critical point of the information cascade transition is the same as that of the random network model. However, the critical point of the super-normal transition disappears when these two models are used. In conclusion, the influence of networks is shown to only affect the convergence speed and not the information cascade transition. We are therefore able to conclude that the influence of hubs on voters' perceptions is limited.

Medical marijuana: the conflict between scientific evidence and political ideology. Part one of two.

PubMed

Cohen, Peter J

2009-01-01

Whether "medical marijuana" (Cannabis sativa used to treat a wide variety of pathologic states) should be accorded the status of a legitimate pharmaceutical agent has long been a contentious issue. Is it a truly effective drug that is arbitrarily stigmatized by many and criminalized by the federal government? Or is it without any medical utility, its advocates hiding behind a screen of misplaced (or deliberately misleading) compassion for the ill? Should Congress repeal its declaration that smoked marijuana is without "current medical benefit"? Should cannabis be approved for medical use by a vote of the people as already has been done in 13 states? Or should medical marijuana be scientifically evaluated for safety and efficacy as any other new investigational drug? How do the competing--and sometimes antagonistic--roles of science, politics and prejudice affect society's attempts to answer this question? This article examines the legal, political, policy, and ethical problems raised by the recognition of medical marijuana by over one-fourth of our states although its use remains illegal under federal law. Although draconian punishment can be imposed for the "recreational" use of marijuana, I will not address the contentious question of whether to legalize or decriminalize the use of marijuana solely for its psychotropic effects, a fascinating and important area of law and policy that is outside the scope of this paper. Instead, the specific focus of this article will be on the conflict between the development of policies based on evidence obtained through the use of scientific methods and those grounded on ideological and political considerations that have repeatedly entered the longstanding debate regarding the legal status of medical marijuana. I will address a basic question: Should the approval of medical marijuana be governed by the same statute that applies to all other drugs or pharmaceutical agents, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), after the appropriate regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has evaluated its safety and efficacy? If not, should medical marijuana be exempted from scientific review and, instead, be evaluated by the Congress, state legislatures, or popular vote? I will argue that advocacy is a poor substitute for dispassionate analysis, and that popular votes should not be allowed to trump scientific evidence in deciding whether or not marijuana is an appropriate pharmaceutical agent to use in modern medical practice.

78 FR 75619 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-12

... that, except for directors elected by the holders of any series of preferred stock, any director, or the entire Board, may be removed from office at any time, but only by the affirmative vote of at least... references to the following: The 3.75% Series A Convertible Notes due 2012 and the 3.75% Series B Convertible...

Neuroelectrical Correlates of Trustworthiness and Dominance Judgments Related to the Observation of Political Candidates

PubMed Central

Vecchiato, Giovanni; Toppi, Jlenia; Maglione, Anton Giulio; Olejarczyk, Elzbieta; Astolfi, Laura; Mattia, Donatella; Colosimo, Alfredo; Babiloni, Fabio

2014-01-01

The present research investigates the neurophysiological activity elicited by fast observations of faces of real candidates during simulated political elections. We used simultaneous recording of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals as well as galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate (HR) as measurements of central and autonomic nervous systems. Twenty healthy subjects were asked to give judgments on dominance, trustworthiness, and a preference of vote related to the politicians' faces. We used high-resolution EEG techniques to map statistical differences of power spectral density (PSD) cortical activity onto a realistic head model as well as partial directed coherence (PDC) and graph theory metrics to estimate the functional connectivity networks and investigate the role of cortical regions of interest (ROIs). Behavioral results revealed that judgment of dominance trait is the most predictive of the outcome of the simulated elections. Statistical comparisons related to PSD and PDC values highlighted an asymmetry in the activation of frontal cortical areas associated with the valence of the judged trait as well as to the probability to cast the vote. Overall, our results highlight the existence of cortical EEG features which are correlated with the prediction of vote and with the judgment of trustworthy and dominant faces. PMID:25214884

Assessing a New Approach to Class-Based Affirmative Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaertner, Matthew N.

2011-01-01

In November, 2008, Colorado and Nebraska voted on amendments that sought to end race-based affirmative action at public universities. In anticipation of the vote, Colorado's flagship public institution--The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU)--explored statistical approaches to support class-based affirmative action. This paper details CU's…

Assessing a New Approach to Class-Based Affirmative Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaertner, Matthew Newman

2011-01-01

In November, 2008, Colorado and Nebraska voted on amendments that sought to end race-based affirmative action at public universities in those states. In anticipation of the vote, the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) explored statistical approaches to support class-based (i.e., socioeconomic) affirmative action. This dissertation introduces…

12 CFR 563b.465 - Do account holders retain any voting rights based on their liquidation sub-accounts?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... based on their liquidation sub-accounts? 563b.465 Section 563b.465 Banks and Banking OFFICE OF THRIFT... Account § 563b.465 Do account holders retain any voting rights based on their liquidation sub-accounts... their liquidation sub-accounts. ...

Spitzer Space Telescope proposal process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laine, S.; Silbermann, N. A.; Rebull, L. M.; Storrie-Lombardi, L. J.

2006-06-01

This paper discusses the Spitzer Space Telescope General Observer proposal process. Proposals, consisting of the scientific justification, basic contact information for the observer, and observation requests, are submitted electronically using a client-server Java package called Spot. The Spitzer Science Center (SSC) uses a one-phase proposal submission process, meaning that fully-planned observations are submitted for most proposals at the time of submission, not months after acceptance. Ample documentation and tools are available to the observers on SSC web pages to support the preparation of proposals, including an email-based Helpdesk. Upon submission proposals are immediately ingested into a database which can be queried at the SSC for program information, statistics, etc. at any time. Large proposals are checked for technical feasibility and all proposals are checked against duplicates of already approved observations. Output from these tasks is made available to the Time Allocation Committee (TAC) members. At the review meeting, web-based software is used to record reviewer comments and keep track of the voted scores. After the meeting, another Java-based web tool, Griffin, is used to track the approved programs as they go through technical reviews, duplication checks and minor modifications before the observations are released for scheduling. In addition to detailing the proposal process, lessons learned from the first two General Observer proposal calls are discussed.

U.S. Armed Forces Abroad: Selected Congressional Votes Since 1982

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-07

Specialist Knowledge Services Group Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is...and Reports , 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of...control number. 1. REPORT DATE 07 SEP 2007 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2007 to 00-00-2007 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE U.S. Armed Forces

Public opinion by a poll process: model study and Bayesian view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hyun Keun; Kim, Yong Woon

2018-05-01

We study the formation of public opinion in a poll process where the current score is open to the public. The voters are assumed to vote probabilistically for or against their own preference considering the group opinion collected up to then in the score. The poll-score probability is found to follow the beta distribution in the large polls limit. We demonstrate that various poll results, even those contradictory to the population preference, are possible with non-zero probability density and that such deviations are readily triggered by initial bias. It is mentioned that our poll model can be understood in the Bayesian viewpoint.

Variational optical flow estimation based on stick tensor voting.

PubMed

Rashwan, Hatem A; Garcia, Miguel A; Puig, Domenec

2013-07-01

Variational optical flow techniques allow the estimation of flow fields from spatio-temporal derivatives. They are based on minimizing a functional that contains a data term and a regularization term. Recently, numerous approaches have been presented for improving the accuracy of the estimated flow fields. Among them, tensor voting has been shown to be particularly effective in the preservation of flow discontinuities. This paper presents an adaptation of the data term by using anisotropic stick tensor voting in order to gain robustness against noise and outliers with significantly lower computational cost than (full) tensor voting. In addition, an anisotropic complementary smoothness term depending on directional information estimated through stick tensor voting is utilized in order to preserve discontinuity capabilities of the estimated flow fields. Finally, a weighted non-local term that depends on both the estimated directional information and the occlusion state of pixels is integrated during the optimization process in order to denoise the final flow field. The proposed approach yields state-of-the-art results on the Middlebury benchmark.

The use of self checks and voting in software error detection - An empirical study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leveson, Nancy G.; Cha, Stephen S.; Knight, John C.; Shimeall, Timothy J.

1990-01-01

The results of an empirical study of software error detection using self checks and N-version voting are presented. Working independently, each of 24 programmers first prepared a set of self checks using just the requirements specification of an aerospace application, and then each added self checks to an existing implementation of that specification. The modified programs were executed to measure the error-detection performance of the checks and to compare this with error detection using simple voting among multiple versions. The analysis of the checks revealed that there are great differences in the ability of individual programmers to design effective checks. It was found that some checks that might have been effective failed to detect an error because they were badly placed, and there were numerous instances of checks signaling nonexistent errors. In general, specification-based checks alone were not as effective as specification-based checks combined with code-based checks. Self checks made it possible to identify faults that had not been detected previously by voting 28 versions of the program over a million randomly generated inputs. This appeared to result from the fact that the self checks could examine the internal state of the executing program, whereas voting examines only final results of computations. If internal states had to be identical in N-version voting systems, then there would be no reason to write multiple versions.

Application of majority voting and consensus voting algorithms in N-version software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsarev, R. Yu; Durmuş, M. S.; Üstoglu, I.; Morozov, V. A.

2018-05-01

N-version programming is one of the most common techniques which is used to improve the reliability of software by building in fault tolerance, redundancy and decreasing common cause failures. N different equivalent software versions are developed by N different and isolated workgroups by considering the same software specifications. The versions solve the same task and return results that have to be compared to determine the correct result. Decisions of N different versions are evaluated by a voting algorithm or the so-called voter. In this paper, two of the most commonly used software voting algorithms such as the majority voting algorithm and the consensus voting algorithm are studied. The distinctive features of Nversion programming with majority voting and N-version programming with consensus voting are described. These two algorithms make a decision about the correct result on the base of the agreement matrix. However, if the equivalence relation on the agreement matrix is not satisfied it is impossible to make a decision. It is shown that the agreement matrix can be transformed into an appropriate form by using the Boolean compositions when the equivalence relation is satisfied.

Moral Foundations and Voting Intention in Italy

PubMed Central

Milesi, Patrizia

2017-01-01

Based on the view of morality proposed by the Moral Foundations Theory, this paper investigates whether voting intention is associated with moral foundation endorsement in not perfectly bipolar electoral contexts. Three studies carried out in Italy from 2010 to 2013, showed that controlling for ideological orientation, moral foundation endorsement is associated with voting intention. In Study 1 and 3, in fictitious and real national elections, intention to vote for right-wing political groups rather than for left-wing rivals was associated with Sanctity, confirming previous results obtained in the U.S. Furthermore, as a function of the specific competing political groups in each of the examined contexts other moral foundations predicted voting intention. In Study 1, Care and Authority predicted voting intention for the major political groups rather than for an autonomist party that aimed at decreasing central government’s fiscal power in favor of fiscal regional autonomy. In Study 3, Loyalty predicted the intention to vote for the major parliamentarian parties rather than for a movement that aimed at capturing disaffection towards traditional politics. In Study 2, at real regional elections, Loyalty predicted voting intention for the incumbent right-wing governor rather than for the challengers and Fairness predicted voting intention for left-wing extra-parliamentarian political groups rather than for the major left-wing party. Thus multiple moral concerns can be associated with voting intention. In fragmented and unstable electoral contexts, at each election the context of the competing political groups may elicit specific moral concerns that can contribute to affect voting intention beyond ideological orientation. PMID:29358981

46 CFR 280.5 - Criteria for determining whether or not civilian preference cargo is carried at a premium rate.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... conference tariff or at the stated minimum level or floor rate for an open-rated commodity published in a..., stated minimum level, or floor rate has at least one foreign-flag carrier as a voting member, or (b) At a rate or tariff agreement rate, or at the stated minimum level or floor rate for an open-rated commodity...

Digital Voting Systems and Communication in Classroom Lectures--An Empirical Study Based around Physics Teaching at Bachelor Level at Two Danish Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathiasen, Helle

2015-01-01

Studies on the use of digital voting systems in large group teaching situations have often focused on the "non-anonymity" and control and testing functions that the technology provides. There has also been some interest in how students might use their votes tactically to gain "credits". By focusing on an empirical study of…

What patients with pulmonary fibrosis and their partners think: a live, educative survey in the Netherlands and Germany

PubMed Central

van Manen, Mirjam J.G.; Kreuter, Michael; van den Blink, Bernt; Oltmanns, Ute; Palmowski, Karin; Brunnemer, Eva; Hummler, Simone; Tak, Nelleke C.; van den Toorn, Leon; Miedema, Jelle; Hoogsteden, Henk C.

2017-01-01

Pulmonary fibrosis greatly impacts patients and their partners. Unmet needs of patients are increasingly acknowledged; the needs of partners often remain unnoticed. Little is known about the best way to educate patients and partners. We investigated pulmonary fibrosis patients' and partners' perspectives and preferences in care, and the differences in these between the Netherlands and Germany. Additionally, we evaluated whether interactive interviewing could be a novel education method in this population. Patients and partners were interviewed during pulmonary fibrosis patient information meetings. In the Netherlands, voting boxes were used and results were projected directly. In Germany, questionnaires were used. In the Netherlands, 278 patients and partners participated; in Germany, 51. Many participants experienced anxiety. Almost all experienced misunderstanding, because people do not know what pulmonary fibrosis is. All expressed a need for information, psychological support and care for partners. Use of the interactive voting system was found to be pleasant (70%) and informative (94%). This study improves the knowledge of care needs of patients with pulmonary fibrosis and their partners. There were no major differences between the Netherlands and Germany. Interactive interviewing could be an attractive method to acquire insights into the needs and preferences of patients and partners, while providing them with information at the same time. PMID:28229083

What patients with pulmonary fibrosis and their partners think: a live, educative survey in the Netherlands and Germany.

PubMed

van Manen, Mirjam J G; Kreuter, Michael; van den Blink, Bernt; Oltmanns, Ute; Palmowski, Karin; Brunnemer, Eva; Hummler, Simone; Tak, Nelleke C; van den Toorn, Leon; Miedema, Jelle; Hoogsteden, Henk C; Wijsenbeek, Marlies S

2017-01-01

Pulmonary fibrosis greatly impacts patients and their partners. Unmet needs of patients are increasingly acknowledged; the needs of partners often remain unnoticed. Little is known about the best way to educate patients and partners. We investigated pulmonary fibrosis patients' and partners' perspectives and preferences in care, and the differences in these between the Netherlands and Germany. Additionally, we evaluated whether interactive interviewing could be a novel education method in this population. Patients and partners were interviewed during pulmonary fibrosis patient information meetings. In the Netherlands, voting boxes were used and results were projected directly. In Germany, questionnaires were used. In the Netherlands, 278 patients and partners participated; in Germany, 51. Many participants experienced anxiety. Almost all experienced misunderstanding, because people do not know what pulmonary fibrosis is. All expressed a need for information, psychological support and care for partners. Use of the interactive voting system was found to be pleasant (70%) and informative (94%). This study improves the knowledge of care needs of patients with pulmonary fibrosis and their partners. There were no major differences between the Netherlands and Germany. Interactive interviewing could be an attractive method to acquire insights into the needs and preferences of patients and partners, while providing them with information at the same time.

A New Proxy Electronic Voting Scheme Achieved by Six-Particle Entangled States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Hai-Jing; Ding, Li-Yuan; Jiang, Xiu-Li; Li, Peng-Fei

2018-03-01

In this paper, we use quantum proxy signature to construct a new secret electronic voting scheme. In our scheme, six particles entangled states function as quantum channels. The voter Alice, the Vote Management Center Bob, the scrutineer Charlie only perform two particles measurements on the Bell bases to realize the electronic voting process. So the scheme reduces the technical difficulty and increases operation efficiency. We use quantum key distribution and one-time pad to guarantee its unconditional security. The significant advantage of our scheme is that transmitted information capacity is twice as much as the capacity of other schemes.

Issues or Identity? Cognitive Foundations of Voter Choice

PubMed Central

Jenke, Libby; Huettel, Scott A.

2016-01-01

Voter choice is one of the most important problems in political science. The most common models assume that voting is a rational choice based on policy positions (e.g., key issues) and non-policy information (e.g., social identity, personality). Though such models explain macroscopic features of elections, they also reveal important anomalies that have been resistant to explanation. We argue for a new approach that builds upon recent research in cognitive science and neuroscience; specifically, we contend that policy positions and social identities do not combine in merely an additive manner, but compete to determine voter preferences. This model not only explains several key anomalies in voter choice, but also suggests new directions for research in both political science and cognitive science. PMID:27769726

The State of Group Support System Research through a Survey of Papers 1980 to 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-09-01

September 1991 Author: _____ Matthew G. Rausch Approved by: I ’K . Tung X. Bui, Thesis Advisor -Moshe Z iran ,econd Reader Department of Admih sraiv Siences ...focus of their support features (voting/analytical modeling, communication/idea organization, game theory/ conflict analysis), and still others by...Moncrieff, J., Taylor, A., April 1990, "Talking with JIMMY Using Electronic Publications in Higher Education," Online Review, Vol. 14, No. 2. Minch, P

78 FR 33121 - Staff Requirements-SECY-12-0168-Calvert Cliffs 3 Nuclear Project, LLC & UniStar Nuclear Operating...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-03

...The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting an assessment, and is seeking stakeholder views, on issues relating to foreign ownership, control, or domination (FOCD) of commercial nuclear power plants. The results and conclusions of this assessment, including any recommendations on any proposed modifications to guidance or practice on FOCD that may be warranted, will be provided in a voting paper for Commission review and approval.

Presidential, But Not Prime Minister, Candidates With Lower Pitched Voices Stand a Better Chance of Winning the Election in Conservative Countries.

PubMed

Banai, Benjamin; Laustsen, Lasse; Banai, Irena Pavela; Bovan, Kosta

2018-01-01

Previous studies have shown that voters rely on sexually dimorphic traits that signal masculinity and dominance when they choose political leaders. For example, voters exert strong preferences for candidates with lower pitched voices because these candidates are perceived as stronger and more competent. Moreover, experimental studies demonstrate that conservative voters, more than liberals, prefer political candidates with traits that signal dominance, probably because conservatives are more likely to perceive the world as a threatening place and to be more attentive to dangerous and threatening contexts. In light of these findings, this study investigates whether country-level ideology influences the relationship between candidate voice pitch and electoral outcomes of real elections. Specifically, we collected voice pitch data for presidential and prime minister candidates, aggregate national ideology for the countries in which the candidates were nominated, and measures of electoral outcomes for 69 elections held across the world. In line with previous studies, we found that candidates with lower pitched voices received more votes and had greater likelihood of winning the elections. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed an interaction between candidate voice pitch, national ideology, and election type (presidential or parliamentary). That is, having a lower pitched voice was a particularly valuable asset for presidential candidates in conservative and right-leaning countries (in comparison to presidential candidates in liberal and left-leaning countries and parliamentary elections). We discuss the practical implications of these findings, and how they relate to existing research on candidates' voices, voting preferences, and democratic elections in general.

Extracorporeal Treatment for Lithium Poisoning: Systematic Review and Recommendations from the EXTRIP Workgroup

PubMed Central

Decker, Brian S.; Goldfarb, David S.; Dargan, Paul I.; Friesen, Marjorie; Gosselin, Sophie; Hoffman, Robert S.; Lavergne, Valéry; Nolin, Thomas D.

2015-01-01

The Extracorporeal Treatments in Poisoning Workgroup was created to provide evidence-based recommendations on the use of extracorporeal treatments in poisoning. Here, the EXTRIP workgroup presents its recommendations for lithium poisoning. After a systematic literature search, clinical and toxicokinetic data were extracted and summarized following a predetermined format. The entire workgroup voted through a two-round modified Delphi method to reach a consensus on voting statements. A RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to quantify disagreement, and anonymous votes were compiled and discussed in person. A second vote was conducted to determine the final workgroup recommendations. In total, 166 articles met inclusion criteria, which were mostly case reports, yielding a very low quality of evidence for all recommendations. A total of 418 patients were reviewed, 228 of which allowed extraction of patient-level data. The workgroup concluded that lithium is dialyzable (Level of evidence=A) and made the following recommendations: Extracorporeal treatment is recommended in severe lithium poisoning (1D). Extracorporeal treatment is recommended if kidney function is impaired and the [Li+] is >4.0 mEq/L, or in the presence of a decreased level of consciousness, seizures, or life-threatening dysrhythmias irrespective of the [Li+] (1D). Extracorporeal treatment is suggested if the [Li+] is >5.0 mEq/L, significant confusion is present, or the expected time to reduce the [Li+] to <1.0 mEq/L is >36 hours (2D). Extracorporeal treatment should be continued until clinical improvement is apparent or [Li+] is <1.0 mEq/L (1D). Extracorporeal treatments should be continued for a minimum of 6 hours if the [Li+] is not readily measurable (1D). Hemodialysis is the preferred extracorporeal treatment (1D), but continuous RRT is an acceptable alternative (1D). The workgroup supported the use of extracorporeal treatment in severe lithium poisoning. Clinical decisions on when to use extracorporeal treatment should take into account the [Li+], kidney function, pattern of lithium toxicity, patient’s clinical status, and availability of extracorporeal treatments. PMID:25583292

Extracorporeal treatment for carbamazepine poisoning: Systematic review and recommendations from the EXTRIP workgroup

PubMed Central

Ghannoum, Marc; Yates, Christopher; Galvao, Tais F.; Sowinski, Kevin M.; Vo, Thi Hai Vân; Coogan, Andrew; Gosselin, Sophie; Lavergne, Valery; Nolin, Thomas D.; Hoffman, Robert S.

2014-01-01

Abstract Context. The Extracorporeal Treatments in Poisoning (EXTRIP) workgroup was created to provide evidence and consensus-based recommendations on the use of extracorporeal treatments (ECTRs) in poisoning. Objectives. To perform a systematic review and provide clinical recommendations for ECTR in carbamazepine poisoning. Methods. After a systematic literature search, the subgroup extracted the data and summarized the findings following a pre-determined format. The entire workgroup voted via a two-round modified Delphi method to reach a consensus on voting statements, using a RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to quantify disagreement. Anonymous votes were compiled, returned, and discussed in person. A second vote determined the final recommendations. Results. Seventy-four articles met inclusion criteria. Articles included case reports, case series, descriptive cohorts, pharmacokinetic studies, and in-vitro studies; two poor-quality observational studies were identified, yielding a very low quality of evidence for all recommendations. Data on 173 patients, including 6 fatalities, were reviewed. The workgroup concluded that carbamazepine is moderately dialyzable and made the following recommendations: ECTR is suggested in severe carbamazepine poisoning (2D). ECTR is recommended if multiple seizures occur and are refractory to treatment (1D), or if life-threatening dysrhythmias occur (1D). ECTR is suggested if prolonged coma or respiratory depression requiring mechanical ventilation are present (2D) or if significant toxicity persists, particularly when carbamazepine concentrations rise or remain elevated, despite using multiple-dose activated charcoal (MDAC) and supportive measures (2D). ECTR should be continued until clinical improvement is apparent (1D) or the serum carbamazepine concentration is below 10 mg/L (42 the μ in μmol/L looks weird.) (2D). Intermittent hemodialysis is the preferred ECTR (1D), but both intermittent hemoperfusion (1D) or continuous renal replacement therapies (3D) are alternatives if hemodialysis is not available. MDAC therapy should be continued during ECTR (1D). Conclusion. Despite the low quality of the available clinical evidence and the high protein binding capacity of carbamazepine, the workgroup suggested extracorporeal removal in cases of severe carbamazepine poisoning. PMID:25355482

Inference of segmented color and texture description by tensor voting.

PubMed

Jia, Jiaya; Tang, Chi-Keung

2004-06-01

A robust synthesis method is proposed to automatically infer missing color and texture information from a damaged 2D image by (N)D tensor voting (N > 3). The same approach is generalized to range and 3D data in the presence of occlusion, missing data and noise. Our method translates texture information into an adaptive (N)D tensor, followed by a voting process that infers noniteratively the optimal color values in the (N)D texture space. A two-step method is proposed. First, we perform segmentation based on insufficient geometry, color, and texture information in the input, and extrapolate partitioning boundaries by either 2D or 3D tensor voting to generate a complete segmentation for the input. Missing colors are synthesized using (N)D tensor voting in each segment. Different feature scales in the input are automatically adapted by our tensor scale analysis. Results on a variety of difficult inputs demonstrate the effectiveness of our tensor voting approach.

Attitudes toward waste to energy facilities and impacts on diversion in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Baxter, Jamie; Ho, Yvonne; Rollins, Yvonne; Maclaren, Virginia

2016-04-01

Despite progress in residential waste diversion, residual waste - that fraction which cannot be recycled or composted - must continue to be managed by municipalities. Zero waste and environmental groups worry that waste-to-energy (WtE) incinerators discourage diversion, while both incineration and landfill have been stigmatized in the popular consciousness such that WtE incinerators in particular are being cancelled more often than they are approved. We conducted a mail-back survey of 217 residents in Toronto, Durham and Peel, Ontario, to understand attitudes toward diversion, levels of support for WtE incineration and WtE landfill (landfill gas recovery) facilities, and predictors of facility support. Contrary to experiences elsewhere, diversion seems threatened by WtE when measured as attitudes with 18%, and 14% agreeing that they would be less inclined to divert recyclable/compostable materials if they knew materials went to a WtE landfill or incinerator. When forced to choose between four options landfill or incineration with and without energy recovery, WtE incineration is most preferred (65%) and landfill without WtE is the least preferred option (61%). However, measurement has a large influence on public opinion results in the sense that support for WtE incineration drops to 43% when asked as a "vote in favor" question and to only 36% when measured as a 4-item index of support. When the indexes of support for landfill and WtE incineration are modeled, the prominence of odor in the landfill model distinguishes it from the WtE incinerator model which is dominated more by community and concern about health effects. Implications for policy are discussed, particularly mandatory diversion targets to accompany WtE. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using a partially randomized patient preference study design to evaluate the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and cupping therapy for fibromyalgia: study protocol for a partially randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Cao, Hui-Juan; Liu, Jian-Ping; Hu, Hui; Wang, Nissi S

2014-07-10

Conducting randomized controlled trials on traditional Chinese non-drug therapies has been limited by factors such as patient preference to specific treatment modality. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of applying a partially randomized patient preference (PRPP) trial model in evaluating the efficacy of two types of traditional Chinese medicine therapies, acupuncture and cupping, for fibromyalgia while accounting for patients' preference of either therapeutic modality. This protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of affiliated Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (approval number: 2013052104-2). One hundred participants with fibromyalgia will be included in this study. Diagnosis of fibromyalgia will be based on the American College of Rheumatology criteria. Before treatment, participants will be interviewed for their preference toward acupuncture or cupping therapy. Fifty participants with no preference will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups and another 50 participants with strong preference to either acupuncture or cupping will receive what they choose. For acupuncture and cupping therapy, the main acupoints used will be tender points (Ashi). Treatment will be three times a week for 5 consecutive weeks with a follow-up period of 12 weeks. Outcome measures will be qualitative (patient expectation and satisfaction) and quantitative (pain intensity, quality of life, depression assessment). NCT01869712 (in clinicaltrials.gov, on 22nd May 2013).

Using a partially randomized patient preference study design to evaluate the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and cupping therapy for fibromyalgia: study protocol for a partially randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Conducting randomized controlled trials on traditional Chinese non-drug therapies has been limited by factors such as patient preference to specific treatment modality. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of applying a partially randomized patient preference (PRPP) trial model in evaluating the efficacy of two types of traditional Chinese medicine therapies, acupuncture and cupping, for fibromyalgia while accounting for patients’ preference of either therapeutic modality. Methods This protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of affiliated Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (approval number: 2013052104-2). One hundred participants with fibromyalgia will be included in this study. Diagnosis of fibromyalgia will be based on the American College of Rheumatology criteria. Before treatment, participants will be interviewed for their preference toward acupuncture or cupping therapy. Fifty participants with no preference will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups and another 50 participants with strong preference to either acupuncture or cupping will receive what they choose. For acupuncture and cupping therapy, the main acupoints used will be tender points (Ashi). Treatment will be three times a week for 5 consecutive weeks with a follow-up period of 12 weeks. Outcome measures will be qualitative (patient expectation and satisfaction) and quantitative (pain intensity, quality of life, depression assessment). Trial registration number NCT01869712 (in clinicaltrials.gov, on 22nd May 2013). PMID:25012121

Development of Light Powered Sensor Networks for Thermal Comfort Measurement

PubMed Central

Lee, Dasheng

2008-01-01

Recent technological advances in wireless communications have enabled easy installation of sensor networks with air conditioning equipment control applications. However, the sensor node power supply, through either power lines or battery power, still presents obstacles to the distribution of the sensing systems. In this study, a novel sensor network, powered by the artificial light, was constructed to achieve wireless power transfer and wireless data communications for thermal comfort measurements. The sensing node integrates an IC-based temperature sensor, a radiation thermometer, a relative humidity sensor, a micro machined flow sensor and a microprocessor for predicting mean vote (PMV) calculation. The 935 MHz band RF module was employed for the wireless data communication with a specific protocol based on a special energy beacon enabled mode capable of achieving zero power consumption during the inactive periods of the nodes. A 5W spotlight, with a dual axis tilt platform, can power the distributed nodes over a distance of up to 5 meters. A special algorithm, the maximum entropy method, was developed to estimate the sensing quantity of climate parameters if the communication module did not receive any response from the distributed nodes within a certain time limit. The light-powered sensor networks were able to gather indoor comfort-sensing index levels in good agreement with the comfort-sensing vote (CSV) preferred by a human being and the experimental results within the environment suggested that the sensing system could be used in air conditioning systems to implement a comfort-optimal control strategy. PMID:27873877

House again passes ban on abortions at military facilities.

PubMed

1996-05-31

Voting 192-225 on May 14, the House defeated an effort to reverse the current prohibition on privately funded abortions at military facilities except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. Introduced by pro-choice Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Jane Harman (D-CA), and Mike Ward (D-KY) and mixed record Representative Peter Torkildsen (R-MA), the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (HR 3230) would have repealed restrictive language in the statute that governs the Department of Defense (DOD). Floor action on the provision of non-government-funded abortions mirrored Representative DeLauro's failed attempts to strike the onerous provision during the mark-up process for HR 3230, which received final House approval in a 272-153 vote on May 15. The House National Security Committee voted 26-20 against removing the abortion restriction on May 1, six days after a similar 11-5 vote by the Subcommittee on Military Personnel. The near ban on abortion services has been in effect since December of last year, when the DOD spending bill was implemented; President Clinton signed the legislation permanently encoding the restriction into law in February (see RFN IV/22, V/3-4). Upon taking office in January 1993, President Clinton had issued an executive memorandum directing the Secretary of Defense to reverse the ban on the performance of non-lifesaving, privately funded abortions at military facilities, which had been instituted through agency action in mid-1988 (see RFN II/3, IV/13). The DOD authorization statute has prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of life endangerment for more than a decade. full text

Voting based object boundary reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Qi; Zhang, Like; Ma, Jingsheng

2005-07-01

A voting-based object boundary reconstruction approach is proposed in this paper. Morphological technique was adopted in many applications for video object extraction to reconstruct the missing pixels. However, when the missing areas become large, the morphological processing cannot bring us good results. Recently, Tensor voting has attracted people"s attention, and it can be used for boundary estimation on curves or irregular trajectories. However, the complexity of saliency tensor creation limits its applications in real-time systems. An alternative approach based on tensor voting is introduced in this paper. Rather than creating saliency tensors, we use a "2-pass" method for orientation estimation. For the first pass, Sobel d*etector is applied on a coarse boundary image to get the gradient map. In the second pass, each pixel puts decreasing weights based on its gradient information, and the direction with maximum weights sum is selected as the correct orientation of the pixel. After the orientation map is obtained, pixels begin linking edges or intersections along their direction. The approach is applied to various video surveillance clips under different conditions, and the experimental results demonstrate significant improvement on the final extracted objects accuracy.

Employing Our Veterans. Part 2. Service Member Transition

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

Chamber of Commerce and the organization’s work to educate the American employer on the benefits and value of hiring veterans. The Task Group also spent time with both local and national veterans outreach programs to understand the demographics and data surrounding the issues. The Task Group’s draft findings and recommendations were presented to the Board for deliberation at the January 24, 2013 quarterly meeting where the Board voted to approve the recommendations. See Tab B for a copy of the brief including the final

[The Jardé law, a real simplification of research in France?

PubMed

Levy, C; Rybak, A; Cohen, R; Jung, C

2017-06-01

The Jardé law was voted in 2012 and its implementing decrees were published in November 2016. The delay between the vote and the decrees highlights the difficulties encountered. This law concerns all research, interventional and otherwise, involving the human person. Each research study must receive the approval of a randomly assigned ethics committee or Committee for the Protection of Persons. The approach here is based on risk in three types of study: interventional studies, studies with minimal risk and intervention, and non-interventional studies (observational studies). The main changes are: simplified informed consent for pediatric studies and possible enrolment for people not affiliated with a social health care system in non-interventional research. The law provides clarification for changes in the purpose of biological collections. For vigilance, the notions of "new facts" and "urgent security measures" have emerged. Although this law appears to be an advancement, some concerns still need to be clarified. The main problem arises from the foreseeable extension of the delay to implement research. Medical research is a competition where time is valuable. Colleagues working on cosmetics research have already anticipated these difficulties. On February 8, 2017, the decrees of the Jardé law were suspended for cosmetics studies. Will the Jardé law be suspended for all French clinical research? Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Cohesion and Coalition Formation in the European Parliament: Roll-Call Votes and Twitter Activities

PubMed Central

Cherepnalkoski, Darko; Karpf, Andreas; Mozetič, Igor; Grčar, Miha

2016-01-01

We study the cohesion within and the coalitions between political groups in the Eighth European Parliament (2014–2019) by analyzing two entirely different aspects of the behavior of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the policy-making processes. On one hand, we analyze their co-voting patterns and, on the other, their retweeting behavior. We make use of two diverse datasets in the analysis. The first one is the roll-call vote dataset, where cohesion is regarded as the tendency to co-vote within a group, and a coalition is formed when the members of several groups exhibit a high degree of co-voting agreement on a subject. The second dataset comes from Twitter; it captures the retweeting (i.e., endorsing) behavior of the MEPs and implies cohesion (retweets within the same group) and coalitions (retweets between groups) from a completely different perspective. We employ two different methodologies to analyze the cohesion and coalitions. The first one is based on Krippendorff’s Alpha reliability, used to measure the agreement between raters in data-analysis scenarios, and the second one is based on Exponential Random Graph Models, often used in social-network analysis. We give general insights into the cohesion of political groups in the European Parliament, explore whether coalitions are formed in the same way for different policy areas, and examine to what degree the retweeting behavior of MEPs corresponds to their co-voting patterns. A novel and interesting aspect of our work is the relationship between the co-voting and retweeting patterns. PMID:27835683

Cohesion and Coalition Formation in the European Parliament: Roll-Call Votes and Twitter Activities.

PubMed

Cherepnalkoski, Darko; Karpf, Andreas; Mozetič, Igor; Grčar, Miha

2016-01-01

We study the cohesion within and the coalitions between political groups in the Eighth European Parliament (2014-2019) by analyzing two entirely different aspects of the behavior of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the policy-making processes. On one hand, we analyze their co-voting patterns and, on the other, their retweeting behavior. We make use of two diverse datasets in the analysis. The first one is the roll-call vote dataset, where cohesion is regarded as the tendency to co-vote within a group, and a coalition is formed when the members of several groups exhibit a high degree of co-voting agreement on a subject. The second dataset comes from Twitter; it captures the retweeting (i.e., endorsing) behavior of the MEPs and implies cohesion (retweets within the same group) and coalitions (retweets between groups) from a completely different perspective. We employ two different methodologies to analyze the cohesion and coalitions. The first one is based on Krippendorff's Alpha reliability, used to measure the agreement between raters in data-analysis scenarios, and the second one is based on Exponential Random Graph Models, often used in social-network analysis. We give general insights into the cohesion of political groups in the European Parliament, explore whether coalitions are formed in the same way for different policy areas, and examine to what degree the retweeting behavior of MEPs corresponds to their co-voting patterns. A novel and interesting aspect of our work is the relationship between the co-voting and retweeting patterns.

PubMed

Ríos, Pedro Rizo; Rivera, Aurora González; Oropeza, Itzel Rivas; Rivas Bocanegra, Ruth E

2013-12-01

The high costs generated by the current epidemiological profile and the introduction of new technologies, impact on public health systems, this situation is complicated when the health budget is low and causes the drug to be paid by the patient's pocket. In this situation it is necessary to design strategies that strengthen the approval of drugs that will be used in public health institutions in Mexico. To describe the results of the drug approval process for use in public health institutions to ensure the efficacy, safety, and efficiency of health technologies used in public health institutions in Mexico. We conducted a cross-sectional drug approval process, from September 2011 to December 2012, with a descriptive analysis for each stage in the process considered. Of the 394 applications received for approval of health technology, 244 (62%) were for drugs; of these, 151 (62%) met the requirements for evaluation (32% and 68% were modifications inclusions), finally was approved of 42% (61% of the changes and 33% of inclusions). The 73% of the applications were for consensus approval, 12% were conditioned at low price and 6% were approved by majority vote. The main reasons for refusal were lack of clinical evidence (31%) and methodological problems in the economic evaluation (27%). The strengthening of the process was conducted with methodological rigor based on critical analysis of scientific evidence, with transparency and legitimacy under a legal framework to promote resource optimization. The highest percentage of requests was for drugs which are the most commonly used therapeutic technology; for this reason it requires a proper selection process to ensure greater health benefit that ensures efficient use of economic resources. The economic evaluation was a support tool to consider in addition to price, the value of health determined by the quality of evidence, establishing a GDP per capita as a threshold to define a drug as an efficient alternative. © 2013 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Published by International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) All rights reserved.

Developing education tailored to clinical roles: genetics education for haemophilia nurses.

PubMed

Burke, Sarah; Barker, Colin; Marshall, Dianne

2012-01-01

Genetics is an important component of the clinical work of haemophilia nurses, but little was known about the genetic education needs of haemophilia nurses. To develop, deliver and evaluate genetic education for haemophilia nurses, based on clinical roles. Perceived relevance of genetics to haemophilia nursing practice was explored using electronic voting (response rate 75%, 58/77). A follow-on questionnaire to a volunteer sample of participants explored educational preferences (response rate 41%, 17/41). Results informed development of a two-hour genetics workshop session, evaluated by questionnaire (response rate 67%, 47/70). Genetic competences were considered relevant to the clinical practice of haemophilia nurses, and learning needs were identified. Preference was expressed for education focused on practical skills. During the subsequent workshop, participant confidence ratings significantly increased in the four areas addressed. Planned changes to clinical care and training were reported. Within new areas of advanced nursing practice, learning needs can be addressed by: identifying relevant clinical activities and associated learning needs; creating a strategy and resources using preferred forms of delivery; implementing the strategy; and evaluating its effect. This will enable development of education that addresses the real needs of practising nurses, grounded in their daily clinical practice. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preference for leaders with masculine voices holds in the case of feminine leadership roles.

PubMed

Anderson, Rindy C; Klofstad, Casey A

2012-01-01

Human voice pitch research has focused on perceptions of attractiveness, strength, and social dominance. Here we examine the influence of pitch on selection of leaders, and whether this influence varies by leadership role. Male and female leaders with lower-pitched (i.e., masculine) voices are generally preferred by both men and women. We asked whether this preference shifts to favor higher-pitch (i.e., feminine) voices within the specific context of leadership positions that are typically held by women (i.e., feminine leadership roles). In hypothetical elections for two such positions, men and women listened to pairs of male and female voices that differed only in pitch, and were asked which of each pair they would vote for. As in previous studies, men and women preferred female candidates with masculine voices. Likewise, men preferred men with masculine voices. Women, however, did not discriminate between male voices. Overall, contrary to research showing that perceptions of voice pitch can be influenced by social context, these results suggest that the influence of voice pitch on perceptions of leadership capacity is largely consistent across different domains of leadership.

Method for secure electronic voting system: face recognition based approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alim, M. Affan; Baig, Misbah M.; Mehboob, Shahzain; Naseem, Imran

2017-06-01

In this paper, we propose a framework for low cost secure electronic voting system based on face recognition. Essentially Local Binary Pattern (LBP) is used for face feature characterization in texture format followed by chi-square distribution is used for image classification. Two parallel systems are developed based on smart phone and web applications for face learning and verification modules. The proposed system has two tire security levels by using person ID followed by face verification. Essentially class specific threshold is associated for controlling the security level of face verification. Our system is evaluated three standard databases and one real home based database and achieve the satisfactory recognition accuracies. Consequently our propose system provides secure, hassle free voting system and less intrusive compare with other biometrics.

The Political Gender Gap: Gender Bias in Facial Inferences that Predict Voting Behavior

PubMed Central

Chiao, Joan Y.; Bowman, Nicholas E.; Gill, Harleen

2008-01-01

Background Throughout human history, a disproportionate degree of political power around the world has been held by men. Even in democracies where the opportunity to serve in top political positions is available to any individual elected by the majority of their constituents, most of the highest political offices are occupied by male leaders. What psychological factors underlie this political gender gap? Contrary to the notion that people use deliberate, rational strategies when deciding whom to vote for in major political elections, research indicates that people use shallow decision heuristics, such as impressions of competence solely from a candidate's facial appearance, when deciding whom to vote for. Because gender has previously been shown to affect a number of inferences made from the face, here we investigated the hypothesis that gender of both voter and candidate affects the kinds of facial impressions that predict voting behavior. Methodology/Principal Finding Male and female voters judged a series of male and female political candidates on how competent, dominant, attractive and approachable they seemed based on their facial appearance. Then they saw a series of pairs of political candidates and decided which politician they would vote for in a hypothetical election for President of the United States. Results indicate that both gender of voter and candidate affect the kinds of facial impressions that predict voting behavior. All voters are likely to vote for candidates who appear more competent. However, male candidates that appear more approachable and female candidates who appear more attractive are more likely to win votes. In particular, men are more likely to vote for attractive female candidates whereas women are more likely to vote for approachable male candidates. Conclusions/Significance Here we reveal gender biases in the intuitive heuristics that voters use when deciding whom to vote for in major political elections. Our findings underscore the impact of gender and physical appearance on shaping voter decision-making and provide novel insight into the psychological foundations underlying the political gender gap. PMID:18974841

The political gender gap: gender bias in facial inferences that predict voting behavior.

PubMed

Chiao, Joan Y; Bowman, Nicholas E; Gill, Harleen

2008-01-01

Throughout human history, a disproportionate degree of political power around the world has been held by men. Even in democracies where the opportunity to serve in top political positions is available to any individual elected by the majority of their constituents, most of the highest political offices are occupied by male leaders. What psychological factors underlie this political gender gap? Contrary to the notion that people use deliberate, rational strategies when deciding whom to vote for in major political elections, research indicates that people use shallow decision heuristics, such as impressions of competence solely from a candidate's facial appearance, when deciding whom to vote for. Because gender has previously been shown to affect a number of inferences made from the face, here we investigated the hypothesis that gender of both voter and candidate affects the kinds of facial impressions that predict voting behavior. Male and female voters judged a series of male and female political candidates on how competent, dominant, attractive and approachable they seemed based on their facial appearance. Then they saw a series of pairs of political candidates and decided which politician they would vote for in a hypothetical election for President of the United States. Results indicate that both gender of voter and candidate affect the kinds of facial impressions that predict voting behavior. All voters are likely to vote for candidates who appear more competent. However, male candidates that appear more approachable and female candidates who appear more attractive are more likely to win votes. In particular, men are more likely to vote for attractive female candidates whereas women are more likely to vote for approachable male candidates. Here we reveal gender biases in the intuitive heuristics that voters use when deciding whom to vote for in major political elections. Our findings underscore the impact of gender and physical appearance on shaping voter decision-making and provide novel insight into the psychological foundations underlying the political gender gap.

Issues or Identity? Cognitive Foundations of Voter Choice.

PubMed

Jenke, Libby; Huettel, Scott A

2016-11-01

Voter choice is one of the most important problems in political science. The most common models assume that voting is a rational choice based on policy positions (e.g., key issues) and nonpolicy information (e.g., social identity, personality). Though such models explain macroscopic features of elections, they also reveal important anomalies that have been resistant to explanation. We argue for a new approach that builds upon recent research in cognitive science and neuroscience; specifically, we contend that policy positions and social identities do not combine in merely an additive manner, but compete to determine voter preferences. This model not only explains several key anomalies in voter choice, but also suggests new directions for research in both political science and cognitive science. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radical distinction: Support for radical left and radical right parties in Europe.

PubMed

Rooduijn, Matthijs; Burgoon, Brian; van Elsas, Erika J; van de Werfhorst, Herman G

2017-12-01

Support for radical parties on both the left and right is on the rise, fueling intuition that both radicalisms have similar underpinnings. Indeed, existing studies show that radical left and right voters have overlapping positions and preferences. In this article, however, we focus on the differences in the voting bases of such parties. We show that radical left and right voters have sharply diverging ideological profiles. When it comes to the historical traditions of the 'left' and 'right', these voters differ radically from each other. Both groups express the traditions associated with their mainstream counterparts-particularly with respect to (non-)egalitarian, (non-)altruistic, and (anti-)cosmopolitan values. Such differences also explain why radical left voters tend to be more, not less, educated than mainstream or radical right voters.

Does Internet voting make elections less social? Group voting patterns in Estonian e-voting log files (2013–2015)

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Remote Internet voting places the control and secrecy of the immediate voting environment on the shoulder of the individual voter but it also turns voting into yet another on-line activity thus endangering the well-known social nature of voting and possibly reducing the crucial sense of civic duty that is important for a healthy democracy. There is however a complete lack of evidence to what degree this actually materializes once electronic voting is introduced. This paper uses individual level log data on Internet voting in Estonian elections between 2013–2015 to inspect if Internet voting retains the social nature of the voting act. We do so by examining if Internet voting in groups takes place and what implications it has for voting speed. We find strong evidence of e-voting in pairs. Same aged male-female pairs seem to be voting in close proximity to each other, consistent with spouses or partners voting together. Also, female-female and female-male pairs with large age differences seem to be voting together, consistent with a parent voting with an adult aged offspring. With regards to voting speed we see the second vote in a vote pair being considerably faster than the first vote, again indicating a shared voting act. We end with a discussion of how the onset of electronic voting does not make elections less social, but does make vote secrecy more a choice rather than a requirement. PMID:28542348

Coauthorship in Pathology, a Comparison With Physics and a Survey-Generated and Member-Preferred Authorship Guideline

PubMed Central

Cohen, Michael B; Tarnow, Eugen; De Young, Barry R

2004-01-01

In a large and detailed survey of scientific coauthorship in pathology, 3500 members of the US and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) were surveyed via the Internet with a final response rate of 22.5%. The results were compared with a previous survey of members of the American Physical Society (APS). The fields are found to be very similar. For example, there is no well-defined way to determine coauthorship: the byline is arrived at without the use of public coauthorship standards according to 90% of respondents (92% in physics). A substantial amount of inappropriate authorship is present in both fields using a variety of authorship guidelines. For example, using the guideline of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" [ICMJE]), the average number of coauthors judged to be inappropriate in pathology on papers with 4 coauthors is 1.0 (1.2 in physics), and using the guideline requiring "direct contributions to scientific discovery or invention," we find 1.6 (1.5 in physics). Finally, it is suggested that authorship guidelines should be constructed by public surveys rather than closed-door committees: an authorship guideline constructed from previous survey feedback (from APS members) was found to be preferable to USCAP members (it received 40% of the vote, the ICMJE received 24% of the vote). PMID:15520623

Coauthorship in pathology, a comparison with physics and a survery-generated and member-preferred authorship guideline.

PubMed

Tarnow, Eugen; De Young, Barry R; Cohen, Michael B

2004-07-22

In a large and detailed survey of scientific coauthorship in pathology, 3500 members of the US and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) were surveyed via the Internet with a final response rate of 22.5%. The results were compared with a previous survey of members of the American Physical Society (APS). The fields are found to be very similar. For example, there is no well-defined way to determine coauthorship: the byline is arrived at without the use of public coauthorship standards according to 90% of respondents (92% in physics). A substantial amount of inappropriate authorship is present in both fields using a variety of authorship guidelines. For example, using the guideline of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" [ICMJE]), the average number of coauthors judged to be inappropriate in pathology on papers with 4 coauthors is 1.0 (1.2 in physics), and using the guideline requiring "direct contributions to scientific discovery or invention," we find 1.6 (1.5 in physics). Finally, it is suggested that authorship guidelines should be constructed by public surveys rather than closed-door committees: an authorship guideline constructed from previous survey feedback (from APS members) was found to be preferable to USCAP members (it received 40% of the vote, the ICMJE received 24% of the vote).

The technological obsolescence of the Brazilian eletronic ballot box.

PubMed

Camargo, Carlos Rogério; Faust, Richard; Merino, Eugênio; Stefani, Clarissa

2012-01-01

The electronic ballot box has played a significant role in the consolidation of Brazilian political process. It has enabled paper ballots extinction as a support for the elector's vote as well as for voting counting processes. It is also widely known that election automation has decisively collaborated to the legitimization of Brazilian democracy, getting rid of doubts about the winning candidates. In 1995, when the project was conceived, it represented a compromise solution, balancing technical efficiency and costs trade-offs. However, this architecture currently limits the ergonomic enhancements to the device operation, transportation, maintenance and storage. Nowadays are available in the market devices of reduced dimensions, based on novel computational architecture, namely tablet computers, which emphasizes usability, autonomy, portability, security and low power consumption. Therefore, the proposal under discussion is the replacement of the current electronic ballot boxes for tablet-based devices to improve the ergonomics aspects of the Brazilian voting process. These devices offer a plethora of integrated features (e.g., capacitive touchscreen, speakers, microphone) that enable highly usable and simple user interfaces, in addition to enhancing the voting process security mechanisms. Finally, their operational systems features allow for the development of highly secure applications, suitable to the requirements of a voting process.

76 FR 53113 - Guidelines for Designating Biobased Products for Federal Procurement

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-25

.... Information regarding the Federal biobased preferred procurement program (one part of the BioPreferred Program... Request: Extension of a currently approved information collection. Abstract: The USDA BioPreferred Program... that then permit USDA to designate items for preferred procurement under the BioPreferred Program. Once...

Photocopy of photograph. Photographer unknown. Poster from the World War ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Photocopy of photograph. Photographer unknown. Poster from the World War II period. During drives to encourage purchase of war bonds, posters featuring female shipyard workers were widely distributed purchasers were allowed one vote for each bond bought. Votes were cast and the woman who got the most votes was named "War Bond Girl." The contest was won by Kay McGinty, 4th row, 2nd column. - Naval Base Philadelphia-Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, League Island, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

Bill would establish pilot project for denturism in Kentucky.

PubMed

Campbell, C A

2000-04-01

HB 238 has been reported favorably to the floor of the House of Representatives by the Committee on Licensing and Occupations, but has not yet been acted upon by the full House. When asked whether he thought his legislation would be approved, Representative Burch said he thought the bill had a "50-50" chance of passing the Kentucky legislature this year. Sources within the Kentucky dental laboratory and dental communities disagree on the legislation's chances for passage. Some within the industry feel the legislation simply does not have enough votes to pass the General Assembly, primarily because of opposition from the Kentucky Dental Association. Others speculate that the bill has a better opportunity to be approved this year than it did in the previous years when it was introduced. The Kentucky General Assembly adjourns its session for the year 2000 on April 12, so there will be a quick answer to the question of whether HB 238 will be approved. The May issue of this column will provide details.

Defense.gov - Special Report: VOTE

Science.gov Websites

Voting Action Plan (pdf) 2013 USMC Voting Action Plan (pdf) 2013 Army Voting Action Plan (pdf) Air Force Voting Plan 2012-13 (pdf) Army Voting Action Plan 2012 (pdf) Marine Corps Voting Action Plan 2012 (pdf ) Navy Voting Action Plan (pdf) Overseas Vote Foundation Project Vote Smart Preparing for the 2012

Experiments in Political Socialization: Kids Voting USA as a Model for Civic Education Reform. CIRCLE Working Paper 49

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDevitt, Michael; Kiousis, Spiro

2006-01-01

This report describes how an innovative curriculum promoted the civic development of high school students along with parents by stimulating news media attention and discussion in families. Evidence is based on a three-year evaluation of Kids Voting USA, an interactive, election-based curriculum. Political communication in the home increased the…

Energy Security and Climate Change Policy in the OECD: The Political Economy of Carbon-Energy Taxation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lachapelle, Erick

Why do countries tax the same fuels at widely different rates, even among similarly situated countries in the global political economy? Given the potentially destabilizing effects of climate change, and the political and economic risks associated with a reliance on geographically concentrated, finite fossil fuels, International Organizations and economists of all political stripes have consistently called for increasing tax rates on fossil-based energy. Despite much enthusiasm among policy experts, however, politicians concerned with distributional consequences, economic performance and competitiveness impacts continue to be wary of raising taxes on carbon-based fuels. In this context, this thesis investigates the political economy of tax rates affecting the price of fossil fuels in advanced capitalist democracies. Through an examination of the political limits of government capacity to implement stricter carbon-energy policy, as well as the identification of the correlates of higher carbon-based energy taxes, it throws new light on the conditions under which carbon-energy tax reform becomes politically possible. Based on recent data collected from the OECD, EEA and IEA, I develop an estimate of the relative size of implicit carbon taxes across OECD member countries on six carbon-based fuels and across the household and industrial sectors. I exploit large cross-national differences in these carbon-energy tax rates in order to identify the correlates of, and constraints on, carbon-energy tax reform. Applying multiple regression analysis to both cross-section and time-series cross-sectional (TSCS) data, this thesis leverages considerable empirical evidence to demonstrate how and why electoral systems matter for energy and environmental tax policy outcomes. In particular, I find considerable empirical evidence to support the claim that systems of proportional representation (PR), in addition to the partisan preferences of the electorate, work together to explain differential rates of carbon-energy taxation. By opening up the ideological space to a broader spectrum of "green" parties, I argue that PR systems create a favourable institutional context within which higher rates of carbon-energy taxation become politically possible. After specifying a key causal mechanism within different types of electoral systems -- the seat-vote elasticity -- I argue further that, voters in disproportional systems actually have more leverage over politicians, and that an increase in environmental voting can have an impact on rates of carbon energy taxation, even in the absence of PR. While the accession to power of green political parties in PR systems is more likely to lead to higher rates of carbon energy taxation, voting for green parties in highly disproportional systems creates incentives for other parties to adopt "green" policies, leading to a similar outcome. In this way, the effect of green votes and green seats will have the opposite effect on policy according to the type of electoral system in use.

Electronic Voting Protocol Using Identity-Based Cryptography.

PubMed

Gallegos-Garcia, Gina; Tapia-Recillas, Horacio

2015-01-01

Electronic voting protocols proposed to date meet their properties based on Public Key Cryptography (PKC), which offers high flexibility through key agreement protocols and authentication mechanisms. However, when PKC is used, it is necessary to implement Certification Authority (CA) to provide certificates which bind public keys to entities and enable verification of such public key bindings. Consequently, the components of the protocol increase notably. An alternative is to use Identity-Based Encryption (IBE). With this kind of cryptography, it is possible to have all the benefits offered by PKC, without neither the need of certificates nor all the core components of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Considering the aforementioned, in this paper we propose an electronic voting protocol, which meets the privacy and robustness properties by using bilinear maps.

Electronic Voting Protocol Using Identity-Based Cryptography

PubMed Central

Gallegos-Garcia, Gina; Tapia-Recillas, Horacio

2015-01-01

Electronic voting protocols proposed to date meet their properties based on Public Key Cryptography (PKC), which offers high flexibility through key agreement protocols and authentication mechanisms. However, when PKC is used, it is necessary to implement Certification Authority (CA) to provide certificates which bind public keys to entities and enable verification of such public key bindings. Consequently, the components of the protocol increase notably. An alternative is to use Identity-Based Encryption (IBE). With this kind of cryptography, it is possible to have all the benefits offered by PKC, without neither the need of certificates nor all the core components of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Considering the aforementioned, in this paper we propose an electronic voting protocol, which meets the privacy and robustness properties by using bilinear maps. PMID:26090515

Mental illness and the right to vote: a review of legislation across the world.

PubMed

Bhugra, Dinesh; Pathare, Soumitra; Gosavi, Chetna; Ventriglio, Antonio; Torales, Julio; Castaldelli-Maia, João; Tolentino, Edgardo Juan L; Ng, Roger

2016-08-01

The right to vote is an important right signifying freedom of thought as well as full citizenship in any setting. Right to vote is enshrined and protected by international human rights treaties. The right of 'everyone' to take part in the political process and elections is based on universal and equal suffrage. Although these International Conventions have been ratified by the large majority of United Nations Member States, their application across the globe is by no means universal. This study sets out to examine the domestic laws of UN Member States in order to explore whether individuals with mental health problems have the right to vote in actuality and, thu,s can participate in political life. Through various searches, electoral laws and Constitutions of 193 Member States of the United Nations were studied. The authors were able to find legislation and/or Constitutional provisions in 167 of the 193 Member States. Twenty-one countries (11%) only placed no restrictions on the right to vote by persons with mental health problems. Over one third of the countries (36%) deny all persons with any mental health problems a right to vote without any qualifier. Some of these discriminatory attitudes are reflected in the multiplicity of terms used to describe persons with mental health problems. Another 21 countries (11%) denied the right to vote to detained persons; of these, nine Member States specifically denied the right to vote to persons who were detained under the mental health law, while the remainder denied the right to vote to all those who were interdicted or judicially interdicted. It would appear that in many countries the denial of voting rights is attributed to a lack of ability to consent by the individuals with mental illness. Further exploration of explanation is required to understand these variations, which exist in spite of international treaties.

Using democracy to award research funding: an observational study.

PubMed

Barnett, Adrian G; Clarke, Philip; Vaquette, Cedryck; Graves, Nicholas

2017-01-01

Winning funding for health and medical research usually involves a lengthy application process. With success rates under 20%, much of the time spent by 80% of applicants could have been better used on actual research. An alternative funding system that could save time is using democracy to award the most deserving researchers based on votes from the research community. We aimed to pilot how such a system could work and examine some potential biases. We used an online survey with a convenience sample of Australian researchers. Researchers were asked to name the 10 scientists currently working in Australia that they thought most deserved funding for future research. For comparison, we used recent winners from large national fellowship schemes that used traditional peer review. Voting took a median of 5 min (inter-quartile range 3 to 10 min). Extrapolating to a national voting scheme, we estimate 599 working days of voting time (95% CI 490 to 728), compared with 827 working days for the current peer review system for fellowships. The gender ratio in the votes was a more equal 45:55 (female to male) compared with 34:66 in recent fellowship winners, although this could be explained by Simpson's paradox. Voters were biased towards their own institution, with an additional 1.6 votes per ballot (inter-quartile range 0.8 to 2.2) above the expected number. Respondents raised many concerns about the idea of using democracy to fund research, including vote rigging, lobbying and it becoming a popularity contest. This is a preliminary study of using voting that does not investigate many of the concerns about how a voting system would work. We were able to show that voting would take less time than traditional peer review and would spread the workload over many more reviewers. Further studies of alternative funding systems are needed as well as a wide discussion with the research community about potential changes.

American College of Rheumatology/Spondylitis Association of America/Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network 2015 Recommendations for the Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis and Nonradiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis

PubMed Central

Ward, Michael M.; Deodhar, Atul; Akl, Elie A.; Lui, Andrew; Ermann, Joerg; Gensler, Lianne S.; Smith, Judith A.; Borenstein, David; Hiratzka, Jayme; Weiss, Pamela F.; Inman, Robert D.; Majithia, Vikas; Haroon, Nigil; Maksymowych, Walter P.; Joyce, Janet; Clark, Bruce M.; Colbert, Robert A.; Figgie, Mark P.; Hallegua, David S.; Prete, Pamela E.; Rosenbaum, James T.; Stebulis, Judith A.; van den Bosch, Filip; Yu, David T. Y.; Miller, Amy S.; Reveille, John D.; Caplan, Liron

2016-01-01

Objective To provide evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). Methods A core group led the development of the recommendations, starting with the treatment questions. A literature review group conducted systematic literature reviews of studies that addressed 57 specific treatment questions, based on searches conducted in OVID Medline (1946–2014), PubMed (1966–2014), and the Cochrane Library. We assessed the quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) method. A separate voting group reviewed the evidence and voted on recommendations for each question using the GRADE framework. Results In patients with active AS, the strong recommendations included use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), use of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) when activity persists despite NSAID treatment, not to use systemic glucocorticoids, use of physical therapy, and use of hip arthroplasty for patients with advanced hip arthritis. Among the conditional recommendations was that no particular TNFi was preferred except in patients with concomitant inflammatory bowel disease or recurrent iritis, in whom TNFi monoclonal antibodies should be used. In patients with active nonradiographic axial SpA despite treatment with NSAIDs, we conditionally recommend treatment with TNFi. Other recommendations for patients with nonradiographic axial SpA were based on indirect evidence and were the same as for patients with AS. Conclusion These recommendations provide guidance for the management of common clinical questions in AS and nonradiographic axial SpA. Additional research on optimal medication management over time, disease monitoring, and preventive care is needed to help establish best practices in these areas. PMID:26401991

American College of Rheumatology/Spondylitis Association of America/Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network 2015 Recommendations for the Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis and Nonradiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis

PubMed Central

WARD, MICHAEL M.; DEODHAR, ATUL; AKL, ELIE A.; LUI, ANDREW; ERMANN, JOERG; GENSLER, LIANNE S.; SMITH, JUDITH A.; BORENSTEIN, DAVID; HIRATZKA, JAYME; WEISS, PAMELA F.; INMAN, ROBERT D.; MAJITHIA, VIKAS; HAROON, NIGIL; MAKSYMOWYCH, WALTER P.; JOYCE, JANET; CLARK, BRUCE M.; COLBERT, ROBERT A.; FIGGIE, MARK P.; HALLEGUA, DAVID S.; PRETE, PAMELA E.; ROSENBAUM, JAMES T.; STEBULIS, JUDITH A.; VAN DEN BOSCH, FILIP; YU, DAVID T. Y.; MILLER, AMY S.; REVEILLE, JOHN D.; CAPLAN, LIRON

2016-01-01

Objective To provide evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). Methods A core group led the development of the recommendations, starting with the treatment questions. A literature review group conducted systematic literature reviews of studies that addressed 57 specific treatment questions, based on searches conducted in OVID Medline (1946–2014), PubMed (1966–2014), and the Cochrane Library. We assessed the quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) method. A separate voting group reviewed the evidence and voted on recommendations for each question using the GRADE framework. Results In patients with active AS, the strong recommendations included use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), use of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) when activity persists despite NSAID treatment, not to use systemic glucocorticoids, use of physical therapy, and use of hip arthroplasty for patients with advanced hip arthritis. Among the conditional recommendations was that no particular TNFi was preferred except in patients with concomitant inflammatory bowel disease or recurrent iritis, in whom TNFi monoclonal antibodies should be used. In patients with active nonradiographic axial SpA despite treatment with NSAIDs, we conditionally recommend treatment with TNFi. Other recommendations for patients with nonradiographic axial SpA were based on indirect evidence and were the same as for patients with AS. Conclusion These recommendations provide guidance for the management of common clinical questions in AS and nonradiographic axial SpA. Additional research on optimal medication management over time, disease monitoring, and preventive care is needed to help establish best practices in these areas. PMID:26401907

Iterative tensor voting for perceptual grouping of ill-defined curvilinear structures.

PubMed

Loss, Leandro A; Bebis, George; Parvin, Bahram

2011-08-01

In this paper, a novel approach is proposed for perceptual grouping and localization of ill-defined curvilinear structures. Our approach builds upon the tensor voting and the iterative voting frameworks. Its efficacy lies on iterative refinements of curvilinear structures by gradually shifting from an exploratory to an exploitative mode. Such a mode shifting is achieved by reducing the aperture of the tensor voting fields, which is shown to improve curve grouping and inference by enhancing the concentration of the votes over promising, salient structures. The proposed technique is validated on delineating adherens junctions that are imaged through fluorescence microscopy. However, the method is also applicable for screening other organisms based on characteristics of their cell wall structures. Adherens junctions maintain tissue structural integrity and cell-cell interactions. Visually, they exhibit fibrous patterns that may be diffused, heterogeneous in fluorescence intensity, or punctate and frequently perceptual. Besides the application to real data, the proposed method is compared to prior methods on synthetic and annotated real data, showing high precision rates.

The United States Supreme Court and psychiatry in the 1990s.

PubMed

Ciccone, J R

1999-03-01

In the 1990s, the Supreme Court has decided several cases that have had an impact on psychiatry and psychiatric patients in the criminal justice system, on psychiatric hospitalization, and on psychotherapist-patient privilege. Of the seven cases discussed in this article, Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Scalia voted similarly in all seven cases. Since joining the court, Justice Thomas has voted with them. Justice Scalia interprets the Constitution, using what has been termed "textualism": avoid reference to legislative history, and interpret the Constitution according to the plain language meaning of the relevant section. Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas are inclined to protect states' rights from court decisions that expand US Constitutional power in cases involving civil plaintiffs and criminal defendants. They seek to protect states from being sued in federal courts, and, if there is doubt, lean toward not interfering with state prerogatives. They tend to not find unenumerated rights and prefer clear-cut rules over amorphous standards. Justices Kennedy and O'Connor, at times joined by Justice Souter in the middle of the court, provide the deciding votes in many cases. They seem to prefer a case-by-case pragmatism over a global jurisprudential philosophy. Approaching cases one at a time, they usually avoid broad philosophic pronouncements when they join with Chief Justice Rehnquist. Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Breyer and Ginsburg since they have been appointed to the court, is more likely to favor a broader reading of the 14th Amendment's Due Process and Equal Protection clauses. Of the seven cases, Kennedy and O'Connor voted with the majority in five cases, the dissent in one case (Zinermon v Burch), and split their votes in one case (Foucha v Louisiana, with O'Connor siding with the Court and Kennedy with the dissent). Commager, a noted historian, believed that political issues can be explored, explained, and debated and that the people of the new American democracy, armed with knowledge and freedom to defend, argue, and choose, will make the right decisions for their common welfare. This theory applies equally to the court: Whenever questions involving psychiatry and psychiatric patients are brought to the court, American psychiatry must make its views known in that forum. To do so requires awareness and knowledge of the cases that involve psychiatry and psychiatric patients that the court has decided, including those decided in the 1990s. To participate effectively, psychiatrists must understand the political landscape in which the cases arrive at the court's doorstep and the composition and leanings of the court and examine carefully the fact patterns (understanding that some fact patterns are more sympathetic than others). This awareness should result in amicus briefs that are scholarly, rely on empiric data, and are scrupulously honest about the limitations of our knowledge. In this way, psychiatrists may fully participate in the debate and aid the court in its exploration and analysis of the issues involving psychiatry and psychiatric patients.

The Safety of Appropriate Use of Over-the-Counter Proton Pump Inhibitors: An Evidence-Based Review and Delphi Consensus.

PubMed

Johnson, David A; Katz, Philip O; Armstrong, David; Cohen, Henry; Delaney, Brendan C; Howden, Colin W; Katelaris, Peter; Tutuian, Radu I; Castell, Donald O

2017-04-01

The availability of over-the-counter (OTC) proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for the short-term (2 weeks) management of frequent heartburn (≥2 days/week) has increased markedly, yet evidence-based recommendations have not been developed. A panel of nine international experts in gastroesophageal reflux disease developed consensus statements regarding the risks and benefits of OTC PPIs using a modified Delphi process. Consensus (based on ≥80% approval) was reached through multiple rounds of remote voting and a final round of live voting. To identify relevant data, the available literature was searched and summarized. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system terminology was used to rate the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations; consensus was based on ≥2/3 agreement. After 4 rounds of review, consensus was achieved for 18 statements. Notably, the available data did not directly reflect OTC use, but instead, prescription use; therefore, extrapolations to the OTC setting were often necessary. This limitation is regrettable, but it justifies performing this exercise to provide evidence-based expert opinion on a widely used class of drugs. The panel determined that using OTC PPIs according to label instructions is unlikely to mask the symptoms of esophageal or gastric cancer or adversely impact the natural history of related precursor conditions. OTC PPIs are not expected to substantially affect micronutrient absorption or bone mineral density or cause community-acquired pneumonia, Clostridium difficile infection, or cardiovascular adverse events. However, OTC PPI use may be associated with slightly increased risks for infectious diarrhea, certain idiosyncratic reactions, and cirrhosis-related spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. The available evidence does not suggest that OTC PPI use consistent with label instructions is associated with substantial health risks. To minimize potential risks, healthcare professionals and consumers must actively participate in decision making when managing reflux-related symptoms in the self-care setting.

Extracorporeal treatment for theophylline poisoning: systematic review and recommendations from the EXTRIP workgroup.

PubMed

Ghannoum, Marc; Wiegand, Timothy J; Liu, Kathleen D; Calello, Diane P; Godin, Melanie; Lavergne, Valery; Gosselin, Sophie; Nolin, Thomas D; Hoffman, Robert S

2015-05-01

The Extracorporeal Treatments in Poisoning workgroup was created to provide evidence-based recommendations on the use of extracorporeal treatments (ECTRs) in poisoning. Here, the workgroup presents its systematic review and recommendations for theophylline. After a systematic review of the literature, a subgroup reviewed articles, extracted data, summarized findings, and proposed structured voting statements following a pre-determined format. A two-round modified Delphi method was chosen to reach a consensus on voting statements and the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to quantify disagreement. Anonymous votes were compiled, returned, and discussed. A second vote determined the final recommendations. 141 articles were included: 6 in vitro studies, 4 animal studies, 101 case reports/case series, 7 descriptive cohorts, 4 observational studies, and 19 pharmacokinetic studies, yielding a low-to-very-low quality of evidence for all recommendations. Data on 143 patients were reviewed, including 10 deaths. The workgroup concluded that theophylline is dialyzable (level of evidence = A) and made the following recommendations: ECTR is recommended in severe theophylline poisoning (1C). Specific recommendations for ECTR include a theophylline concentration [theophylline] > 100 mg/L (555 μmol/L) in acute exposure (1C), the presence of seizures (1D), life-threatening dysrhythmias (1D) or shock (1D), a rising [theophylline] despite optimal therapy (1D), and clinical deterioration despite optimal care (1D). In chronic poisoning, ECTR is suggested if [theophylline] > 60 mg/L (333 μmol/L) (2D) or if the [theophylline] > 50 mg/L (278 μmol/L) and the patient is either less than 6 months of age or older than 60 years of age (2D). ECTR is also suggested if gastrointestinal decontamination cannot be administered (2D). ECTR should be continued until clinical improvement is apparent or the [theophylline] is < 15 mg/L (83 μmol/L) (1D). Following the cessation of ECTR, patients should be closely monitored. Intermittent hemodialysis is the preferred method of ECTR (1C). If intermittent hemodialysis is unavailable, hemoperfusion (1C) or continuous renal replacement therapies may be considered (3D). Exchange transfusion is an adequate alternative to hemodialysis in neonates (2D). Multi-dose activated charcoal should be continued during ECTR (1D). Theophylline poisoning is amenable to ECTRs. The workgroup recommended extracorporeal removal in the case of severe theophylline poisoning.

The interplay of self-reflection, social interaction and random events in the dynamics of opinion flow in two-party democracies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lichtenegger, Klaus; Hadzibeganovic, Tarik

2016-01-01

We propose a continuous process opinion formation model to study the dynamics of a multi-level relationship between voters, political parties, and facts in two-party democratic elections. In our model, opinions can take any real value between two extremes and an unaligned, moderate opinion state without a preference. Starting with a random opinion configuration, individual voter opinions evolve and change over time due to self-reflection, inter-personal communication, external media influence, and noise. Parties are influenced by their own ideologies, facts, and voters’ opinions. Elections are held periodically and the party that is closer in opinion to the majority of voters forms the new government. The government policy is then expected to be in proximity to the voter opinions and the policies of the currently ruling political party. We analyze the tension of opinions as a measure of how dramatically opinions can disagree within a given sample of voters and the success of the government and parties as the degree of coincidence between the policies and facts. Our model generates realistic quasi-periodic alternations between incumbents and challengers that are typical for two-party systems. Moreover, our model shows that relative to other voters’ strategies, conscious voting can lead to more successful governments of not only fact-oriented but also pragmatic and balanced political parties, irrespective of the strategies of the competing opposition parties. In addition, our simulations uncover several interesting features including less victories for strictly ideological or fact-oriented parties unless they include some aspects of populism or pragmatism. In this sense, our model can also describe situations where election outcomes are not necessarily based on votes for the current programs of competing parties and their placement on relevant issues, but instead result from voters’ dissatisfaction with the previous government and the votes against it.

Consensus statement on the use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in children.

PubMed

Carel, Jean-Claude; Eugster, Erica A; Rogol, Alan; Ghizzoni, Lucia; Palmert, Mark R; Antoniazzi, Franco; Berenbaum, Sheri; Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Chrousos, George P; Coste, Joël; Deal, Sheri; de Vries, Liat; Foster, Carol; Heger, Sabine; Holland, Jack; Jahnukainen, Kirsi; Juul, Anders; Kaplowitz, Paul; Lahlou, Najiba; Lee, Mary M; Lee, Peter; Merke, Deborah P; Neely, E Kirk; Oostdijk, Wilma; Phillip, Moshe; Rosenfield, Robert L; Shulman, Dorothy; Styne, Dennis; Tauber, Maïthé; Wit, Jan M

2009-04-01

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs revolutionized the treatment of central precocious puberty. However, questions remain regarding their optimal use in central precocious puberty and other conditions. The Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society and the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology convened a consensus conference to review the clinical use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in children and adolescents. When selecting the 30 participants, consideration was given to equal representation from North America (United States and Canada) and Europe, an equal male/female ratio, and a balanced spectrum of professional seniority and expertise. Preference was given to articles written in English with long-term outcome data. The US Public Health grading system was used to grade evidence and rate the strength of conclusions. When evidence was insufficient, conclusions were based on expert opinion. Participants were put into working groups with assigned topics and specific questions. Written materials were prepared and distributed before the conference, revised on the basis of input during the meeting, and presented to the full assembly for final review. If consensus could not be reached, conclusions were based on majority vote. All participants approved the final statement. The efficacy of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in increasing adult height is undisputed only in early-onset (girls <6 years old) central precocious puberty. Other key areas, such as the psychosocial effects of central precocious puberty and their alteration by gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, need additional study. Few controlled prospective studies have been performed with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in children, and many conclusions rely in part on collective expert opinion. The conference did not endorse commonly voiced concerns regarding the use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, such as promotion of weight gain or long-term diminution of bone mineral density. Use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs for conditions other than central precocious puberty requires additional investigation and cannot be suggested routinely.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hyman, James M; Restrepo, Juan M; Rael, Rosalyn C

We propose a population dynamics model for quantifying the effects of polling data on the outcome of multi-party elections decided by a majority-rule voting process. We divide the population into two groups: committed voters impervious to polling data, and susceptible voters whose decision to vote is influenced by data, depending on its reliability. This population-based approach to modeling the process sidesteps the problem of upscaling models based upon the choices made by individuals. We find releasing poll data is not advantageous to leading candidates, but it can be exploited by those closely trailing. The analysis identifies the particular type ofmore » voting impetus at play in different stages of an election and could help strategists optimize their influence on susceptible voters.« less

Software reliability through fault-avoidance and fault-tolerance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vouk, Mladen A.; Mcallister, David F.

1992-01-01

Accomplishments in the following research areas are summarized: structure based testing, reliability growth, and design testability with risk evaluation; reliability growth models and software risk management; and evaluation of consensus voting, consensus recovery block, and acceptance voting. Four papers generated during the reporting period are included as appendices.

The Use of Demographic Data in Voting Rights Litigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Hare, William

1991-01-01

Issues demographic experts face concerning voting rights litigation are considered, using examples from Garza v County of Los Angeles (California) (1990). Errors and the age of census figures when released mean that court decisions about appropriate population bases and thresholds will continue to vary from one location to another. (SLD)

Radical distinction: Support for radical left and radical right parties in Europe

PubMed Central

Burgoon, Brian; van Elsas, Erika J; van de Werfhorst, Herman G

2017-01-01

Support for radical parties on both the left and right is on the rise, fueling intuition that both radicalisms have similar underpinnings. Indeed, existing studies show that radical left and right voters have overlapping positions and preferences. In this article, however, we focus on the differences in the voting bases of such parties. We show that radical left and right voters have sharply diverging ideological profiles. When it comes to the historical traditions of the ‘left’ and ‘right’, these voters differ radically from each other. Both groups express the traditions associated with their mainstream counterparts—particularly with respect to (non-)egalitarian, (non-)altruistic, and (anti-)cosmopolitan values. Such differences also explain why radical left voters tend to be more, not less, educated than mainstream or radical right voters. PMID:29187802

Temperament and self-based correlates of cooperative, competitive and individualistic learning preferences.

PubMed

Gocłowska, Małgorzata A; Aldhobaiban, Nawal; Elliot, Andrew J; Murayama, Kou; Kobeisy, Ahmed; Abdelaziz, Ashraf

2017-06-01

People vary in the extent to which they prefer cooperative, competitive or individualistic achievement tasks. In this research, we conducted two studies designed to investigate correlates and possible roots of these social interdependence orientations, namely approach and avoidance temperament, general self-efficacy, implicit theories of intelligence, and contingencies of self-worth based in others' approval, competition and academic competence. The results indicated that approach temperament, general self-efficacy and incremental theory were positively related, and entity theory was negatively related to cooperative preferences (|r| range from .11 to .41); approach temperament, general self-efficacy, competition contingencies and academic competence contingencies were positively related to competitive preferences (|r| range from .16 to .46); and avoidance temperament, entity theory, competitive contingencies and academic competence contingencies were positively related, and incremental theory was negatively related to individualistic preferences (|r| range from .09 to .15). The findings are discussed with regard to the meaning of each of the three social interdependence orientations, cultural differences among the observed relations and implications for practitioners. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

2008 Post-Election Voting Survey of Department of State Voting Assistance Officers: Tabulation of Responses

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-01

this survey include Erin St. Pierre and Scott Wiedmann (Federal Voting Assistance Program ). Other important contributors to the survey development...20 a. Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) onsite VAO training workshop...the voting program .............................37 November 2008 Post-Election Voting Survey of Department of State Voting Assistance Officers

[Subjective Level of Information and Information Needs of Patients with an Approved Rehabilitation Application and Patients at the End of Rehabilitation Results of a Written Survey].

PubMed

Walther, Anna Lena; Schreiber, Dora; Falk, Johannes; Deck, Ruth

2017-08-01

Aim The aim of the study was to identify the subjective level of information and information needs of patients with an approved rehabilitation application and patients at the end of rehabilitation with regard to preferred subjects and kind of information transfer. Method Written survey with N=283 patients with approved rehabilitation application and N=388 patients at the end of rehabilitation. Results Both groups reported high information needs particularly regarding treatments during rehabilitation, rehabilitation aftercare and rehabilitation aims. A conversation with their physician, a brochure and a website are the preferred information pathways. Conclusion Taking into account the topics for which both groups require information and the preference regarding the kind of information transfer can make a valuable contribution for the development of needs-oriented information material. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

One Man One Vote: Trust between the Electorate, the Establishment, and Voting Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, Laurie

2006-01-01

Historically any U.S. voting technology is burdened from its very inception with the expectation of technologically ensuring voting integrity. Voting is an officially sanctioned social activity/ritual in a technologically-focused nation, so U.S. voters arrive at the polls expecting that voting technology will ensure that their vote "counts. But no…

Target Report No. 4. Legislative Scorecard.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dudley, Jim, Comp.; Von Kennel, Tim, Comp.

Votes of the Senators and Representatives on selected bills deemed important to students covering late 1976 and all of 1977 are presented along with the National Student Association and the National Student Lobby (NSA-NSL) rating of each Congressman. The rating is based on the percentage of times the Congressman voted in favor of the position that…

Suffrage for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Illness: Observations on a Civic Controversy.

PubMed

Kopel, Charles

Most electoral democracies, including forty-three states in the United States, deny people the right to vote on the basis of intellectual disability or mental illness. Scholars in several fields have addressed these disenfranchisements, including legal scholars who analyze their validity under U.S. constitutional law and international-human-rights law, philosophers and political scientists who analyze their validity under democratic theory, and mental-health researchers who analyze their relationship to scientific categories. This Note reviews the current state of the debate across these fields and makes three contentions: (a) pragmatic political considerations have blurred the distinction between disenfranchisement provisions based on cognitive capacity and those based on personal status; (b) proposals that advocate voting by proxy trivialize the broad civic purpose of the franchise; and (c) the persistence of disenfranchisement on the basis of mental illness inevitably contributes to silencing socially disfavored views and lifestyles. Accordingly, the Note cautions reformers against advocating for capacity assessment or proxy voting, and emphasizes the importance of disassociating the idea of mental illness from voting capacity.

A networked voting rule for democratic representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández, Alexis R.; Gracia-Lázaro, Carlos; Brigatti, Edgardo; Moreno, Yamir

2018-03-01

We introduce a general framework for exploring the problem of selecting a committee of representatives with the aim of studying a networked voting rule based on a decentralized large-scale platform, which can assure a strong accountability of the elected. The results of our simulations suggest that this algorithm-based approach is able to obtain a high representativeness for relatively small committees, performing even better than a classical voting rule based on a closed list of candidates. We show that a general relation between committee size and representatives exists in the form of an inverse square root law and that the normalized committee size approximately scales with the inverse of the community size, allowing the scalability to very large populations. These findings are not strongly influenced by the different networks used to describe the individuals' interactions, except for the presence of few individuals with very high connectivity which can have a marginal negative effect in the committee selection process.

Perceptions of Competence, Strength, and Age Influence Voters to Select Leaders with Lower-Pitched Voices.

PubMed

Klofstad, Casey A; Anderson, Rindy C; Nowicki, Stephen

2015-01-01

Voters prefer leaders with lower-pitched voices because they are perceived as stronger, having greater physical prowess, more competent, and having greater integrity. An alternative hypothesis that has yet to be tested is that lower-pitched voices are perceived as older and thus wiser and more experienced. Here the relationships between candidate voice pitch, candidate age, and electoral success are examined with two experiments. Study 1 tests whether voters discriminate on candidate age. The results show that male and female candidates in their 40s and 50s, the time in the lifecycle when voice pitch is at its lowest, are preferred over candidates in their 30s, 60s, and 70s. Study 2 shows that the preference for leaders with lower-pitched voices correlates with the perception that speakers with lower voices are stronger, more competent, and older, but the influence of perception of age on vote choice is the weakest of the three.

Perceptions of Competence, Strength, and Age Influence Voters to Select Leaders with Lower-Pitched Voices

PubMed Central

Klofstad, Casey A.; Anderson, Rindy C.; Nowicki, Stephen

2015-01-01

Voters prefer leaders with lower-pitched voices because they are perceived as stronger, having greater physical prowess, more competent, and having greater integrity. An alternative hypothesis that has yet to be tested is that lower-pitched voices are perceived as older and thus wiser and more experienced. Here the relationships between candidate voice pitch, candidate age, and electoral success are examined with two experiments. Study 1 tests whether voters discriminate on candidate age. The results show that male and female candidates in their 40s and 50s, the time in the lifecycle when voice pitch is at its lowest, are preferred over candidates in their 30s, 60s, and 70s. Study 2 shows that the preference for leaders with lower-pitched voices correlates with the perception that speakers with lower voices are stronger, more competent, and older, but the influence of perception of age on vote choice is the weakest of the three. PMID:26252894

A voting-based star identification algorithm utilizing local and global distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Qiaoyun; Zhong, Xuyang; Sun, Junhua

2018-03-01

A novel star identification algorithm based on voting scheme is presented in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, the global distribution and local distribution of sensor stars are fully utilized, and the stratified voting scheme is adopted to obtain the candidates for sensor stars. The database optimization is employed to reduce its memory requirement and improve the robustness of the proposed algorithm. The simulation shows that the proposed algorithm exhibits 99.81% identification rate with 2-pixel standard deviations of positional noises and 0.322-Mv magnitude noises. Compared with two similar algorithms, the proposed algorithm is more robust towards noise, and the average identification time and required memory is less. Furthermore, the real sky test shows that the proposed algorithm performs well on the real star images.

Identifying a set of influential spreaders in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jian-Xiong; Chen, Duan-Bing; Dong, Qiang; Zhao, Zhi-Dan

2016-06-01

Identifying a set of influential spreaders in complex networks plays a crucial role in effective information spreading. A simple strategy is to choose top-r ranked nodes as spreaders according to influence ranking method such as PageRank, ClusterRank and k-shell decomposition. Besides, some heuristic methods such as hill-climbing, SPIN, degree discount and independent set based are also proposed. However, these approaches suffer from a possibility that some spreaders are so close together that they overlap sphere of influence or time consuming. In this report, we present a simply yet effectively iterative method named VoteRank to identify a set of decentralized spreaders with the best spreading ability. In this approach, all nodes vote in a spreader in each turn, and the voting ability of neighbors of elected spreader will be decreased in subsequent turn. Experimental results on four real networks show that under Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) and Susceptible-Infected (SI) models, VoteRank outperforms the traditional benchmark methods on both spreading rate and final affected scale. What’s more, VoteRank has superior computational efficiency.

A novel N-input voting algorithm for X-by-wire fault-tolerant systems.

PubMed

Karimi, Abbas; Zarafshan, Faraneh; Al-Haddad, S A R; Ramli, Abdul Rahman

2014-01-01

Voting is an important operation in multichannel computation paradigm and realization of ultrareliable and real-time control systems that arbitrates among the results of N redundant variants. These systems include N-modular redundant (NMR) hardware systems and diversely designed software systems based on N-version programming (NVP). Depending on the characteristics of the application and the type of selected voter, the voting algorithms can be implemented for either hardware or software systems. In this paper, a novel voting algorithm is introduced for real-time fault-tolerant control systems, appropriate for applications in which N is large. Then, its behavior has been software implemented in different scenarios of error-injection on the system inputs. The results of analyzed evaluations through plots and statistical computations have demonstrated that this novel algorithm does not have the limitations of some popular voting algorithms such as median and weighted; moreover, it is able to significantly increase the reliability and availability of the system in the best case to 2489.7% and 626.74%, respectively, and in the worst case to 3.84% and 1.55%, respectively.

Interrater agreement in visual scoring of neonatal seizures based on majority voting on a web-based system: The Neoguard EEG database.

PubMed

Dereymaeker, Anneleen; Ansari, Amir H; Jansen, Katrien; Cherian, Perumpillichira J; Vervisch, Jan; Govaert, Paul; De Wispelaere, Leen; Dielman, Charlotte; Matic, Vladimir; Dorado, Alexander Caicedo; De Vos, Maarten; Van Huffel, Sabine; Naulaers, Gunnar

2017-09-01

To assess interrater agreement based on majority voting in visual scoring of neonatal seizures. An online platform was designed based on a multicentre seizure EEG-database. Consensus decision based on 'majority voting' and interrater agreement was estimated using Fleiss' Kappa. The influences of different factors on agreement were determined. 1919 Events extracted from 280h EEG of 71 neonates were reviewed by 4 raters. Majority voting was applied to assign a seizure/non-seizure classification. 44% of events were classified with high, 36% with moderate, and 20% with poor agreement, resulting in a Kappa value of 0.39. 68% of events were labelled as seizures, and in 46%, all raters were convinced about electrographic seizures. The most common seizure duration was <30s. Raters agreed best for seizures lasting 60-120s. There was a significant difference in electrographic characteristics of seizures versus dubious events, with seizures having longer duration, higher power and amplitude. There is a wide variability in identifying rhythmic ictal and non-ictal EEG events, and only the most robust ictal patterns are consistently agreed upon. Database composition and electrographic characteristics are important factors that influence interrater agreement. The use of well-described databases and input of different experts will improve neonatal EEG interpretation and help to develop uniform seizure definitions, useful for evidence-based studies of seizure recognition and management. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

VeryVote: A Voter Verifiable Code Voting System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joaquim, Rui; Ribeiro, Carlos; Ferreira, Paulo

Code voting is a technique used to address the secure platform problem of remote voting. A code voting system consists in secretly sending, e.g. by mail, code sheets to voters that map their choices to entry codes in their ballot. While voting, the voter uses the code sheet to know what code to enter in order to vote for a particular candidate. In effect, the voter does the vote encryption and, since no malicious software on the PC has access to the code sheet it is not able to change the voter’s intention. However, without compromising the voter’s privacy, the vote codes are not enough to prove that the vote is recorded and counted as cast by the election server.

Preserving anonymity in e-voting system using voter non-repudiation oriented scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamid, Isredza Rahmi A.; Radzi, Siti Nafishah Md; Rahman, Nurul Hidayah Ab; Wen, Chuah Chai; Abdullah, Nurul Azma

2017-10-01

The voting system has been developed from traditional paper ballot to electronic voting (e-voting). The e-voting system has high potential to be widely used in election event. However, the e-voting system still does not meet the most important security properties which are voter's authenticity and non-repudiation. This is because voters can simply vote again by entering other people's identification number. In this project, an electronic voting using voter non-repudiation oriented scheme will be developed. This system contains ten modules which are log in, vote session, voter, candidate, open session, voting results, user account, initial score, logs and reset vote count. In order to ensure there would be no non-repudiation issue, a voter non-repudiation oriented scheme concept will be adapted and implemented in the system. This system will be built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 which only can be accessed using personal computers at the voting center. This project will be beneficial for future use in order to overcome non-repudiation issue.

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 Years or Older - United States, 2017.

PubMed

Kim, David K; Riley, Laura E; Harriman, Kathleen H; Hunter, Paul; Bridges, Carolyn B

2017-02-10

In October 2016, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to approve the Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 Years or Older-United States, 2017. The 2017 adult immunization schedule summarizes ACIP recommendations in two figures, footnotes for the figures, and a table of contraindications and precautions for vaccines recommended for adults. These documents are available at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules. The full ACIP recommendations for each vaccine can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/index.html. The 2017 adult immunization schedule was also reviewed and approved by the American College of Physicians (https://www.acponline.org), the American Academy of Family Physicians (https://www.aafp.org), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (http://www.acog.org), and the American College of Nurse-Midwives (http://www.midwife.org).

Development of Quality Metrics in Ambulatory Pediatric Cardiology.

PubMed

Chowdhury, Devyani; Gurvitz, Michelle; Marelli, Ariane; Anderson, Jeffrey; Baker-Smith, Carissa; Diab, Karim A; Edwards, Thomas C; Hougen, Tom; Jedeikin, Roy; Johnson, Jonathan N; Karpawich, Peter; Lai, Wyman; Lu, Jimmy C; Mitchell, Stephanie; Newburger, Jane W; Penny, Daniel J; Portman, Michael A; Satou, Gary; Teitel, David; Villafane, Juan; Williams, Roberta; Jenkins, Kathy

2017-02-07

The American College of Cardiology Adult Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology (ACPC) Section had attempted to create quality metrics (QM) for ambulatory pediatric practice, but limited evidence made the process difficult. The ACPC sought to develop QMs for ambulatory pediatric cardiology practice. Five areas of interest were identified, and QMs were developed in a 2-step review process. In the first step, an expert panel, using the modified RAND-UCLA methodology, rated each QM for feasibility and validity. The second step sought input from ACPC Section members; final approval was by a vote of the ACPC Council. Work groups proposed a total of 44 QMs. Thirty-one metrics passed the RAND process and, after the open comment period, the ACPC council approved 18 metrics. The project resulted in successful development of QMs in ambulatory pediatric cardiology for a range of ambulatory domains. Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT): Current Status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaturvedi, Ram

2003-04-01

After an effort of nearly a half century the CTBT was approved by the U.N. on September 10, 1996. Out of 185 member nations (at the time), 158 voted in favor, 3 against, and the remaining either abstained or were diplomatically absent. In spite of such an overwhelming support of the international community, the CTBT may well remain on paper. The reason being that one of the opposing nations, India, is considered a "threshold Nuclear Nation" and must approve the treaty to enter into force according to the rules of Conference of Disarmament (CD). India's U.N. representative said that her country would "never sign this unequal treaty, not now, not later." "Unequal" because it does not provide a time table for elimination of the existing nuclear weapons, testing of weapons, etc., which favor nuclear states. This paper will provide details of the above issues and the current status of the CTBT.

Testing for voter rigging in small polling stations

PubMed Central

Jimenez, Raúl; Hidalgo, Manuel; Klimek, Peter

2017-01-01

Nowadays, a large number of countries combine formal democratic institutions with authoritarian practices. Although in these countries the ruling elites may receive considerable voter support, they often use several manipulation tools to control election outcomes. A common practice of these regimes is the coercion and mobilization of large numbers of voters. This electoral irregularity is known as voter rigging, distinguishing it from vote rigging, which involves ballot stuffing or stealing. We develop a statistical test to quantify the extent to which the results of a particular election display traces of voter rigging. Our key hypothesis is that small polling stations are more susceptible to voter rigging because it is easier to identify opposing individuals, there are fewer eyewitnesses, and interested parties might reasonably expect fewer visits from election observers. We devise a general statistical method for testing whether voting behavior in small polling stations is significantly different from the behavior in their neighbor stations in a way that is consistent with the widespread occurrence of voter rigging. On the basis of a comparative analysis, the method enables third parties to conclude that an explanation other than simple variability is needed to explain geographic heterogeneities in vote preferences. We analyze 21 elections in 10 countries and find significant statistical anomalies compatible with voter rigging in Russia from 2007 to 2011, in Venezuela from 2006 to 2013, and in Uganda in 2011. Particularly disturbing is the case of Venezuela, where the smallest polling stations were decisive to the outcome of the 2013 presidential elections. PMID:28695193

Testing for voter rigging in small polling stations.

PubMed

Jimenez, Raúl; Hidalgo, Manuel; Klimek, Peter

2017-06-01

Nowadays, a large number of countries combine formal democratic institutions with authoritarian practices. Although in these countries the ruling elites may receive considerable voter support, they often use several manipulation tools to control election outcomes. A common practice of these regimes is the coercion and mobilization of large numbers of voters. This electoral irregularity is known as voter rigging, distinguishing it from vote rigging, which involves ballot stuffing or stealing. We develop a statistical test to quantify the extent to which the results of a particular election display traces of voter rigging. Our key hypothesis is that small polling stations are more susceptible to voter rigging because it is easier to identify opposing individuals, there are fewer eyewitnesses, and interested parties might reasonably expect fewer visits from election observers. We devise a general statistical method for testing whether voting behavior in small polling stations is significantly different from the behavior in their neighbor stations in a way that is consistent with the widespread occurrence of voter rigging. On the basis of a comparative analysis, the method enables third parties to conclude that an explanation other than simple variability is needed to explain geographic heterogeneities in vote preferences. We analyze 21 elections in 10 countries and find significant statistical anomalies compatible with voter rigging in Russia from 2007 to 2011, in Venezuela from 2006 to 2013, and in Uganda in 2011. Particularly disturbing is the case of Venezuela, where the smallest polling stations were decisive to the outcome of the 2013 presidential elections.

Automated identification of best-quality coronary artery segments from multiple-phase coronary CT angiography (cCTA) for vessel analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Chuan; Chan, Heang-Ping; Hadjiiski, Lubomir M.; Chughtai, Aamer; Wei, Jun; Kazerooni, Ella A.

2016-03-01

We are developing an automated method to identify the best quality segment among the corresponding segments in multiple-phase cCTA. The coronary artery trees are automatically extracted from different cCTA phases using our multi-scale vessel segmentation and tracking method. An automated registration method is then used to align the multiple-phase artery trees. The corresponding coronary artery segments are identified in the registered vessel trees and are straightened by curved planar reformation (CPR). Four features are extracted from each segment in each phase as quality indicators in the original CT volume and the straightened CPR volume. Each quality indicator is used as a voting classifier to vote the corresponding segments. A newly designed weighted voting ensemble (WVE) classifier is finally used to determine the best-quality coronary segment. An observer preference study is conducted with three readers to visually rate the quality of the vessels in 1 to 6 rankings. Six and 10 cCTA cases are used as training and test set in this preliminary study. For the 10 test cases, the agreement between automatically identified best-quality (AI-BQ) segments and radiologist's top 2 rankings is 79.7%, and between AI-BQ and the other two readers are 74.8% and 83.7%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the performance of our automated method was comparable to those of experienced readers for identification of the best-quality coronary segments.

He Votes or She Votes? Female and Male Discursive Strategies in Twitter Political Hashtags

PubMed Central

Cunha, Evandro; Magno, Gabriel; Gonçalves, Marcos André; Cambraia, César; Almeida, Virgilio

2014-01-01

In this paper, we conduct a study about differences between female and male discursive strategies when posting in the microblogging service Twitter, with a particular focus on the hashtag designation process during political debate. The fact that men and women use language in distinct ways, reverberating practices linked to their expected roles in the social groups, is a linguistic phenomenon known to happen in several cultures and that can now be studied on the Web and on online social networks in a large scale enabled by computing power. Here, for instance, after analyzing tweets with political content posted during Brazilian presidential campaign,we found out that male Twitter users, when expressing their attitude toward a given candidate, are more prone to use imperative verbal forms in hashtags, while female users tend to employ declarative forms. This difference can be interpreted as a sign of distinct approaches in relation to other network members: for example, if political hashtags are seen as strategies of persuasion in Twitter, imperative tags could be understood as more overt ways of persuading and declarative tags as more indirect ones. Our findings help to understand human gendered behavior in social networks and contribute to research on the new fields of computer-enabled Internet linguistics and social computing, besides being useful for several computational tasks such as developing tag recommendation systems based on users' collective preferences and tailoring targeted advertising strategies, among others. PMID:24489832

The Voting Rights Act: Unfulfilled Goals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, DC.

This report examines the current status of minority voting rights covered by the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The special provisions prescribe added protection of minority voting rights in those jurisdictions where discrimination in voting has been most pervasive. The report explains the Voting Rights Act and discusses its…

Academic requirements for Certificate of Completion of Training in surgical training: Consensus recommendations from the Association of Surgeons in Training/National Research Collaborative Consensus Group.

PubMed

Lee, Mathew J; Bhangu, A; Blencowe, Natalie S; Nepogodiev, D; Gokani, Vimal J; Harries, Rhiannon L; Akinfala, M; Ali, O; Allum, W; Bosanquet, D C; Boyce, K; Bradburn, M; Chapman, S J; Christopher, E; Coulter, I; Dean, B J F; Dickfos, M; El Boghdady, M; Elmasry, M; Fleming, S; Glasbey, J; Healy, C; Kasivisvanathan, V; Khan, K S; Kolias, A G; Lee, S M; Morton, D; O'Beirne, J; Sinclair, P; Sutton, P A

2016-11-01

Surgical trainees are expected to demonstrate academic achievement in order to obtain their certificate of completion of training (CCT). These standards are set by the Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) and specialty advisory committees (SAC). The standards are not equivalent across all surgical specialties and recognise different achievements as evidence. They do not recognise changes in models of research and focus on outcomes rather than process. The Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) and National Research Collaborative (NRC) set out to develop progressive, consistent and flexible evidence set for academic requirements at CCT. A modified-Delphi approach was used. An expert group consisting of representatives from the ASiT and the NRC undertook iterative review of a document proposing changes to requirements. This was circulated amongst wider stakeholders. After ten iterations, an open meeting was held to discuss these proposals. Voting on statements was performed using a 5-point Likert Scale. Each statement was voted on twice, with ≥80% of votes in agreement meaning the statement was approved. The results of this vote were used to propose core and optional academic requirements for CCT. Online discussion concluded after ten rounds. At the consensus meeting, statements were voted on by 25 delegates from across surgical specialties and training-grades. The group strongly favoured acquisition of 'Good Clinical Practice' training and research methodology training as CCT requirements. The group agreed that higher degrees, publications in any author position (including collaborative authorship), recruiting patients to a study or multicentre audit and presentation at a national or international meeting could be used as evidence for the purpose of CCT. The group agreed on two essential 'core' requirements (GCP and methodology training) and two of a menu of four 'additional' requirements (publication with any authorship position, presentation, recruitment of patients to a multicentre study and completion of a higher degree), which should be completed in order to attain CCT. This approach has engaged stakeholders to produce a progressive set of academic requirements for CCT, which are applicable across surgical specialties. Flexibility in requirements whilst retaining a high standard of evidence is desirable. Copyright © 2016 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

House agrees with president that delay in international family planning aid causes harm.

PubMed

1997-02-14

On February 13, the U.S. House of Representatives approved (220-209) HJR 36, which would release funds for the overseas family planning program administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on March 1. Under the initial spending measure approved as part of the omnibus appropriations package passed in September 1996, funds would have been released on July 1 (9 months into the budget year), unless President Clinton determined the delay was having a "negative impact on the proper functioning of the family planning assistance program". On January 31, President Clinton determined that the budget freeze of these funds would "cause serious, irreversible, and avoidable harm". The vote on HJR 36 will not affect the stipulation that the money for the year must be released in month-by-month installments. The president's decision was based on a report by USAID which showed that withholding funds would have the following results: 50 million condoms, 4.8 million cycles of birth control pills, and 500,000 IUDs would not be provided; and 17 of 95 USAID-funded family planning programs in 50 countries might have to be closed. The Foreign Operations funding bill for fiscal year 1996 had already decreased funds for family planning by 35% from the previous year to $356 million; a compromise between the House and Senate increased this amount to $385 million for fiscal year 1997. The House, on February 13, also passed HR 581 (231-194), which would reinstate a policy of Presidents Reagan and Bush: any organization receiving U.S. family planning aid would have to certify that it did not provide abortions, even if other sources paid for them, except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. Such organizations must also certify that they would not violate or lobby to change abortion laws, except in opposition to coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. Passage of this bill, which was introduced by Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and which would remove the month-by-month distribution of aid, is considered to be symbolic; one objection would keep it from a vote in the Senate.

Lives matter. Do votes? Invited commentary on "Black lives matter: Differential mortality and the racial composition of the U.S. electorate, 1970-2004".

PubMed

Purtle, Jonathan

2015-07-01

Racial health disparities in the United States are produced and perpetuated through public policies that differentially allocate risks and resources for health. Elected officials have the ability modify the structural determinants of racial health disparities through policy decisions and, through voting, the electorate can influence the extent to which these policy decisions promote health equity. In this commentary, I synthesize research on the voting behavior of electorates and policy decisions and present strategies to foster sociopolitical environments that are conducive to the implementation and enforcement of racial health disparity reduction initiatives. There is a need for research that contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of voting in health policy making processes and further development of empirically-based policy advocacy strategies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

77 FR 50761 - GWI Voting Trust and R. Lawrence McCaffery, Voting Trustee-Control Exemption-RailAmerica, Inc...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-22

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35660] GWI Voting Trust and R. Lawrence McCaffery, Voting Trustee-- Control Exemption--RailAmerica, Inc., et al. GWI Voting... company, and R. Lawrence McCaffery, a noncarrier individual (Voting Trustee), (collectively, applicants...

14 CFR 47.8 - Voting trusts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Voting trusts. 47.8 Section 47.8... REGISTRATION General § 47.8 Voting trusts. (a) If a voting trust is used to qualify a domestic corporation as a... the fully executed voting trust agreement, which must identify each voting interest of the applicant...

Segmentation of heterogeneous blob objects through voting and level set formulation

PubMed Central

Chang, Hang; Yang, Qing; Parvin, Bahram

2009-01-01

Blob-like structures occur often in nature, where they aid in cueing and the pre-attentive process. These structures often overlap, form perceptual boundaries, and are heterogeneous in shape, size, and intensity. In this paper, voting, Voronoi tessellation, and level set methods are combined to delineate blob-like structures. Voting and subsequent Voronoi tessellation provide the initial condition and the boundary constraints for each blob, while curve evolution through level set formulation provides refined segmentation of each blob within the Voronoi region. The paper concludes with the application of the proposed method to a dataset produced from cell based fluorescence assays and stellar data. PMID:19774202

7 CFR 3202.5 - Initial approval process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

.... A standardized application form and instructions are available on the USDA BioPreferred Program Web... post to the USDA BioPreferred Program Web site, and to providing USDA with up-to-date information for... certification. Instructions for submitting the application fee are available on the USDA BioPreferred Program...

7 CFR 3202.5 - Initial approval process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

.... A standardized application form and instructions are available on the USDA BioPreferred Program Web... post to the USDA BioPreferred Program Web site, and to providing USDA with up-to-date information for... certification. Instructions for submitting the application fee are available on the USDA BioPreferred Program...

7 CFR 3202.5 - Initial approval process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

.... A standardized application form and instructions are available on the USDA BioPreferred Program Web... post to the USDA BioPreferred Program Web site, and to providing USDA with up-to-date information for... certification. Instructions for submitting the application fee are available on the USDA BioPreferred Program...

Teaching neurology to medical students with a simplified version of team-based learning.

PubMed

Brich, Jochen; Jost, Meike; Brüstle, Peter; Giesler, Marianne; Rijntjes, Michel

2017-08-08

To compare the effect of a simplified version of team-based learning (sTBL), an active learning/small group instructional strategy, with that of the traditionally used small group interactive seminars on the acquisition of knowledge and clinical reasoning (CR) skills. Third- and fourth-year medical students (n = 122) were randomly distributed into 2 groups. A crossover design was used in which 2 neurologic topics were taught by sTBL and 2 by small group interactive seminars. Knowledge was assessed with a multiple-choice question examination (MCQE), CR skills with a key feature problem examination (KFPE). Questionnaires were used for further methodologic evaluation. No group differences were found in the MCQE results. sTBL instruction of the topic "acute altered mental status" was associated with a significantly better student performance in the KFPE ( p = 0.008), with no differences in the other 3 topics covered. Although both teaching methods were highly rated by the students, a clear majority voted for sTBL as their preferred future teaching method. sTBL served as an equivalent alternative to small group interactive seminars for imparting knowledge and teaching CR skills, and was particularly advantageous for teaching CR in the setting of a complex neurologic topic. Furthermore, students reported a strong preference for the sTBL approach, making it a promising tool for effectively teaching neurology. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

Report from the fourth international consensus meeting to harmonize core outcome measures for atopic eczema/dermatitis clinical trials (HOME initiative).

PubMed

Chalmers, J R; Simpson, E; Apfelbacher, C J; Thomas, K S; von Kobyletzki, L; Schmitt, J; Singh, J A; Svensson, Å; Williams, H C; Abuabara, K; Aoki, V; Ardeleanu, M; Awici-Rasmussen, M; Barbarot, S; Berents, T L; Block, J; Bragg, A; Burton, T; Bjerring Clemmensen, K K; Creswell-Melville, A; Dinesen, M; Drucker, A; Eckert, L; Flohr, C; Garg, M; Gerbens, L A A; Graff, A L B; Hanifin, J; Heinl, D; Humphreys, R; Ishii, H A; Kataoka, Y; Leshem, Y A; Marquort, B; Massuel, M-A; Merhand, S; Mizutani, H; Murota, H; Murrell, D F; Nakahara, T; Nasr, I; Nograles, K; Ohya, Y; Osterloh, I; Pander, J; Prinsen, C; Purkins, L; Ridd, M; Sach, T; Schuttelaar, M-L A; Shindo, S; Smirnova, J; Sulzer, A; Synnøve Gjerde, E; Takaoka, R; Vestby Talmo, H; Tauber, M; Torchet, F; Volke, A; Wahlgren, C-F; Weidinger, S; Weisshaar, E; Wollenberg, A; Yamaga, K; Zhao, C Y; Spuls, P I

2016-07-01

This article is a report of the fourth meeting of the Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative held in Malmö, Sweden on 23-24 April 2015 (HOME IV). The aim of the meeting was to achieve consensus over the preferred outcome instruments for measuring patient-reported symptoms and quality of life for the HOME core outcome set for atopic eczema (AE). Following presentations, which included data from systematic reviews, consensus discussions were held in a mixture of whole group and small group discussions. Small groups were allocated a priori to ensure representation of different stakeholders and countries. Decisions were voted on using electronic keypads. For the patient-reported symptoms, the group agreed by vote that itch, sleep loss, dryness, redness/inflamed skin and irritated skin were all considered essential aspects of AE symptoms. Many instruments for capturing patient-reported symptoms were discussed [including the Patient-Oriented SCOring Atopic Dermatitis index, Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), Self-Administered Eczema Area and Severity Index, Itch Severity Scale, Atopic Dermatitis Quickscore and the Nottingham Eczema Severity Score] and, by consensus, POEM was selected as the preferred instrument to measure patient-reported symptoms. Further work is needed to determine the reliability and measurement error of POEM. Further work is also required to establish the importance of pain/soreness and the importance of collecting information regarding the intensity of symptoms in addition to their frequency. Much of the discussion on quality of life concerned the Dermatology Life Quality Index and Quality of Life Index for Atopic Dermatitis; however, consensus on a preferred instrument for measuring this domain could not be reached. In summary, POEM is recommended as the HOME core outcome instrument for measuring AE symptoms. © 2016 The Authors. British Journal of Dermatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Association of Dermatologists.

A voting-based statistical cylinder detection framework applied to fallen tree mapping in terrestrial laser scanning point clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polewski, Przemyslaw; Yao, Wei; Heurich, Marco; Krzystek, Peter; Stilla, Uwe

2017-07-01

This paper introduces a statistical framework for detecting cylindrical shapes in dense point clouds. We target the application of mapping fallen trees in datasets obtained through terrestrial laser scanning. This is a challenging task due to the presence of ground vegetation, standing trees, DTM artifacts, as well as the fragmentation of dead trees into non-collinear segments. Our method shares the concept of voting in parameter space with the generalized Hough transform, however two of its significant drawbacks are improved upon. First, the need to generate samples on the shape's surface is eliminated. Instead, pairs of nearby input points lying on the surface cast a vote for the cylinder's parameters based on the intrinsic geometric properties of cylindrical shapes. Second, no discretization of the parameter space is required: the voting is carried out in continuous space by means of constructing a kernel density estimator and obtaining its local maxima, using automatic, data-driven kernel bandwidth selection. Furthermore, we show how the detected cylindrical primitives can be efficiently merged to obtain object-level (entire tree) semantic information using graph-cut segmentation and a tailored dynamic algorithm for eliminating cylinder redundancy. Experiments were performed on 3 plots from the Bavarian Forest National Park, with ground truth obtained through visual inspection of the point clouds. It was found that relative to sample consensus (SAC) cylinder fitting, the proposed voting framework can improve the detection completeness by up to 10 percentage points while maintaining the correctness rate.

How PARCC's False Rigor Stunts the Academic Growth of All Students. White Paper No. 135

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McQuillan, Mark; Phelps, Richard P.; Stotsky, Sandra

2015-01-01

In July 2010, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) voted to adopt Common Core's standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in place of the state's own standards in these two subjects. The vote was based largely on recommendations by Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester and then Secretary of…

Quora.com: Another Place for Users to Ask Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ovadia, Steven

2011-01-01

Quora (www.quora.com) is a contemporary, web-based take on reference. Users post questions within Quora and other users answer the questions. Users can vote for and against answers (or not vote at all). It is users asking questions of friends and strangers and then sorting through the results. If the model sounds familiar, it's because it is.…

Mobile Voting Systems for Creating Collaboration Environments and Getting Immediate Feedback: A New Curriculum Model of a University Lecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Titova, Svetlana; Talmo, Tord

2014-01-01

Mobile devices can enhance learning and teaching by providing instant feedback and better diagnosis of learning problems, helping design new assessment models, enhancing learner autonomy and creating new formats of enquiry-based activities. The objective of this paper is to investigate the pedagogical impact of mobile voting tools. The authors'…

On improving the efficiency of tensor voting.

PubMed

Moreno, Rodrigo; Garcia, Miguel Angel; Puig, Domenec; Pizarro, Luis; Burgeth, Bernhard; Weickert, Joachim

2011-11-01

This paper proposes two alternative formulations to reduce the high computational complexity of tensor voting, a robust perceptual grouping technique used to extract salient information from noisy data. The first scheme consists of numerical approximations of the votes, which have been derived from an in-depth analysis of the plate and ball voting processes. The second scheme simplifies the formulation while keeping the same perceptual meaning of the original tensor voting: The stick tensor voting and the stick component of the plate tensor voting must reinforce surfaceness, the plate components of both the plate and ball tensor voting must boost curveness, whereas junctionness must be strengthened by the ball component of the ball tensor voting. Two new parameters have been proposed for the second formulation in order to control the potentially conflictive influence of the stick component of the plate vote and the ball component of the ball vote. Results show that the proposed formulations can be used in applications where efficiency is an issue since they have a complexity of order O(1). Moreover, the second proposed formulation has been shown to be more appropriate than the original tensor voting for estimating saliencies by appropriately setting the two new parameters.

A networked voting rule for democratic representation

PubMed Central

Brigatti, Edgardo; Moreno, Yamir

2018-01-01

We introduce a general framework for exploring the problem of selecting a committee of representatives with the aim of studying a networked voting rule based on a decentralized large-scale platform, which can assure a strong accountability of the elected. The results of our simulations suggest that this algorithm-based approach is able to obtain a high representativeness for relatively small committees, performing even better than a classical voting rule based on a closed list of candidates. We show that a general relation between committee size and representatives exists in the form of an inverse square root law and that the normalized committee size approximately scales with the inverse of the community size, allowing the scalability to very large populations. These findings are not strongly influenced by the different networks used to describe the individuals’ interactions, except for the presence of few individuals with very high connectivity which can have a marginal negative effect in the committee selection process. PMID:29657817

28 CFR 51.31 - Communications concerning voting suits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Communications concerning voting suits... Groups § 51.31 Communications concerning voting suits. Individuals and groups are urged to notify the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, of litigation concerning voting in jurisdictions subject...

28 CFR 51.31 - Communications concerning voting suits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Communications From Individuals and... Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, of litigation concerning voting in jurisdictions subject... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Communications concerning voting suits...

Voting rights for psychiatric patients: compromise of the integrity of elections, or empowerment and integration into the community?

PubMed

Doron, Adiel; Kurs, Rena; Stolovy, Tali; Secker-Einbinder, Aya; Raba, Alla

2014-01-01

Participation of the mentally-ill in elections promotes integration into the community. In many countries, individuals with compromised mental incompetence who have legal guardians are denied the right to vote. In Israel, mental health consumers are eligible to vote. We evaluated the capacity of psychiatric inpatients with and without legal guardians to understand the nature and effect of voting. Fifty-six inpatients with/without legal guardians were recruited to the study. Participants completed the Competency AssessmentTool for Voting (CAT-V), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Mini-Mental State Exam. Cluster analysis determined voting capacity using CAT-V as a continuous variable. Subjects who scored >1.6 on the CAT-V (59%) had high capacity to vote. Subjects without guardians revealed significantly higher capacity to vote. Voting capacity positively correlated with cognitive state and negatively correlated with severity of illness. Among patients with legal guardians those who scored >1.6 on the CAT-V maintained the capacity to vote. The right to vote is an important basic right for individuals coping with mental disorders.However, it is important to evaluate the capacity to understand the voting process among individuals with mental disorders who have legal guardians. Thus, the integrity of the elections would be preserved by eliminating the risk of undue influence or manipulation of individuals who lack the capacity to understand the nature and meaning of voting, while preserving the right to vote for those with the capacity to do so, whether or not they have guardians.

Mesh Denoising based on Normal Voting Tensor and Binary Optimization.

PubMed

Yadav, Sunil Kumar; Reitebuch, Ulrich; Polthier, Konrad

2017-08-17

This paper presents a two-stage mesh denoising algorithm. Unlike other traditional averaging approaches, our approach uses an element-based normal voting tensor to compute smooth surfaces. By introducing a binary optimization on the proposed tensor together with a local binary neighborhood concept, our algorithm better retains sharp features and produces smoother umbilical regions than previous approaches. On top of that, we provide a stochastic analysis on the different kinds of noise based on the average edge length. The quantitative results demonstrate that the performance of our method is better compared to state-of-the-art smoothing approaches.

Fault-tolerant reactor protection system

DOEpatents

Gaubatz, Donald C.

1997-01-01

A reactor protection system having four divisions, with quad redundant sensors for each scram parameter providing input to four independent microprocessor-based electronic chassis. Each electronic chassis acquires the scram parameter data from its own sensor, digitizes the information, and then transmits the sensor reading to the other three electronic chassis via optical fibers. To increase system availability and reduce false scrams, the reactor protection system employs two levels of voting on a need for reactor scram. The electronic chassis perform software divisional data processing, vote 2/3 with spare based upon information from all four sensors, and send the divisional scram signals to the hardware logic panel, which performs a 2/4 division vote on whether or not to initiate a reactor scram. Each chassis makes a divisional scram decision based on data from all sensors. Each division performs independently of the others (asynchronous operation). All communications between the divisions are asynchronous. Each chassis substitutes its own spare sensor reading in the 2/3 vote if a sensor reading from one of the other chassis is faulty or missing. Therefore the presence of at least two valid sensor readings in excess of a set point is required before terminating the output to the hardware logic of a scram inhibition signal even when one of the four sensors is faulty or when one of the divisions is out of service.

Fault-tolerant reactor protection system

DOEpatents

Gaubatz, D.C.

1997-04-15

A reactor protection system is disclosed having four divisions, with quad redundant sensors for each scram parameter providing input to four independent microprocessor-based electronic chassis. Each electronic chassis acquires the scram parameter data from its own sensor, digitizes the information, and then transmits the sensor reading to the other three electronic chassis via optical fibers. To increase system availability and reduce false scrams, the reactor protection system employs two levels of voting on a need for reactor scram. The electronic chassis perform software divisional data processing, vote 2/3 with spare based upon information from all four sensors, and send the divisional scram signals to the hardware logic panel, which performs a 2/4 division vote on whether or not to initiate a reactor scram. Each chassis makes a divisional scram decision based on data from all sensors. Each division performs independently of the others (asynchronous operation). All communications between the divisions are asynchronous. Each chassis substitutes its own spare sensor reading in the 2/3 vote if a sensor reading from one of the other chassis is faulty or missing. Therefore the presence of at least two valid sensor readings in excess of a set point is required before terminating the output to the hardware logic of a scram inhibition signal even when one of the four sensors is faulty or when one of the divisions is out of service. 16 figs.

Periodically Self Restoring Redundant Systems for VLSI Based Highly Reliable Design,

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-01-01

fault tolerance technique for realizing highly reliable computer systems for critical control applications . However, VL.SI technology has imposed a...operating correctly; failed critical real time control applications . n modules are discarded from the vote. the classical "static" voted redundancy...redundant modules are failure number of InterconnecttIon3. This results In f aree. However, for applications requiring higm modular complexity because

Secure Biometric E-Voting Scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, Taha Kh.; Aborizka, Mohamed

The implementation of the e-voting becomes more substantial with the rapid increase of e-government development. The recent growth in communications and cryptographic techniques facilitate the implementation of e-voting. Many countries introduced e-voting systems; unfortunately most of these systems are not fully functional. In this paper we will present an e-voting scheme that covers most of the e-voting requirements, smart card and biometric recognition technology were implemented to guarantee voter's privacy and authentication.

Conditions for exercising residents' voting rights in long-term care residences: a prospective multicenter study.

PubMed

Bosquet, Antoine; El Massioui, Farid; Mahé, Isabelle

2015-01-01

To assess voting conditions in long-term care settings, we conducted a multicenter survey after the 2009 European elections in France. A questionnaire about voting procedures and European elections was proposed in 146 out of 884 randomized facilities. Sixty-four percent of facilities answered the questionnaire. Four percent of residents voted (national turnout: 40%), by proxy (58%) or at polling places (42%). Abstention related to procedural issues was reported in 32% of facilities. Sixty-seven percent of establishments had voting procedures, and 53% declared that they assessed residents' capacity to vote. Assistance was proposed to residents for voter registration, for proxy voting, and for voting at polling places, respectively, in 33%, 87%, and 80% of facilities. This survey suggests that residents may be disenfranchised and that more progress should be made to protect the voting rights of residents in long-term care facilities.

Stakeholders' perspectives on quality indicators for diabetes care: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Markhorst, Joekie; Martirosyan, Liana; Calsbeek, Hiske; Braspenning, Jozé

2012-01-01

Transparency in diabetes care requires quality indicators that are of interest to stakeholders in order to optimise their usage. Indicator development is often focused on consensus, and little is known about stakeholders' preferences for information on quality. To explore the preferences of consumers, providers, purchasers and policy makers for different quality domains and indicators in relation to the intended use of quality indicators. Between June and December 2009, 14 semi-structured interviews were held with stakeholders who have a decisive vote in the selection of the national indicator set for diabetes care in the Netherlands. The following subjects were explored: (1) the aims of using information on quality; (2) the interpretation of and preferences for the quality domains of safety, timeliness, effectiveness and patient-centredness in relation to the user aims; and (3) the preferences for structure, process or outcome indicators. Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Stakeholders had similar and different aims according to their roles. The interpretations of quality domains varied greatly between the stakeholders. Besides differences in interpretation, their preferences were similar. Most stakeholders prioritised patient-centredness above the other domains of quality, ranked in order of priority as safety, effectiveness and timeliness, whereas purchasers also prioritised efficiency. All stakeholders preferred to use process indicators or a mix of process and outcome indicators. The preferences of the stakeholders for quality indicators seem to be neither well-refined nor congruent. The implementation of an indicator set can probably be improved if the stakeholders' definitions and preferences for quality domains become more explicit during the selection process for indicators.

29 CFR 452.114 - Write-in votes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Write-in votes. 452.114 Section 452.114 Labor Regulations... OF 1959 Election Procedures; Rights of Members § 452.114 Write-in votes. Where write-in votes are... an election complaint under section 402 and then only if the arrangements for write-in votes were so...

29 CFR 452.94 - Reasonable opportunity to vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959 Right To Vote § 452.94 Reasonable opportunity to vote. The statutory protection of the right to vote implies that there must be a reasonable opportunity to vote. Thus, there is an obligation... ways, depending on factors such as the distance between the members' work site or homes and the polling...

31 CFR 800.228 - Voting interest.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Voting interest. 800.228 Section 800... TAKEOVERS BY FOREIGN PERSONS Definitions § 800.228 Voting interest. The term voting interest means any interest in an entity that entitles the owner or holder of that interest to vote for the election of...

31 CFR 800.228 - Voting interest.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Voting interest. 800.228 Section 800... TAKEOVERS BY FOREIGN PERSONS Definitions § 800.228 Voting interest. The term voting interest means any interest in an entity that entitles the owner or holder of that interest to vote for the election of...

Reliability Analysis of the Electrical Control System of Subsea Blowout Preventers Using Markov Models

PubMed Central

Liu, Zengkai; Liu, Yonghong; Cai, Baoping

2014-01-01

Reliability analysis of the electrical control system of a subsea blowout preventer (BOP) stack is carried out based on Markov method. For the subsea BOP electrical control system used in the current work, the 3-2-1-0 and 3-2-0 input voting schemes are available. The effects of the voting schemes on system performance are evaluated based on Markov models. In addition, the effects of failure rates of the modules and repair time on system reliability indices are also investigated. PMID:25409010

Post-decision consolidation in large group decision-making.

PubMed

Bäck, Emma A; Esaiasson, Peter; Gilljam, Mikael; Svenson, Ola; Lindholm, Torun

2011-08-01

Decision-makers tend to change the psychological attractiveness of decision alternatives in favor of their own preferred alternative after the decision is made. In two experiments, the present research examined whether such decision consolidation occurs also among individual group members in a large group decision-making situation. High-school students were presented with a decision scenario on an important issue in their school. The final decision was made by in-group authority, out-group authority or by majority after a ballot voting. Results showed that individual members of large groups changed the attractiveness of their preferred alternative from a pre- to a post-decision phase, that these consolidation effects increased when decisions were made by in-group members, and when participants identified strongly with their school. Implications of the findings for understanding of group behavior and subgroup relations are discussed. © 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

When truth is personally inconvenient, attitudes change: the impact of extreme weather on implicit support for green politicians and explicit climate-change beliefs.

PubMed

Rudman, Laurie A; McLean, Meghan C; Bunzl, Martin

2013-11-01

A naturalistic investigation of New Jersey residents, both before and after they experienced Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, examined support for politicians committed or opposed to policies designed to combat climate change. At Time 1, before both hurricanes, participants showed negative implicit attitudes toward a green politician, but at Time 2, after the hurricanes, participants drawn from the same cohort showed a reversed automatic preference. Moreover, those who were significantly affected by Hurricane Sandy were especially likely to implicitly prefer the green politician, and implicit attitudes were the best predictor of voting after the storms, whereas explicit climate-change beliefs was the best predictor before the storms. In concert, the results suggest that direct experience with extreme weather can increase pro-environmentalism, and further support conceptualizing affective experiences as a source of implicit attitudes.

Utopian Hopes or Dystopian Fears? Exploring the Motivational Underpinnings of Moralized Political Engagement.

PubMed

Skitka, Linda J; Hanson, Brittany E; Wisneski, Daniel C

2017-02-01

People are more likely to become politically engaged (e.g., vote, engage in activism) when issues are associated with strong moral convictions. The goal of this research was to understand the underlying motivations that lead to this well-replicated effect. Specifically, to what extent is moralized political engagement motivated by proscriptive concerns (e.g., perceived harms, anticipated regret), prescriptive concerns (e.g., perceived benefits, anticipated pride), or some combination of these processes? And are the motivational pathways between moral conviction and political engagement the same or different for liberals and conservatives? Two studies (combined N = 2,069) found that regardless of political orientation, the association between moral conviction and political engagement was mediated by the perceived benefits of preferred but not the perceived harms of non-preferred policy outcomes, and by both anticipated pride and regret, findings that replicated in two contexts: legalizing same-sex marriage and allowing concealed weapons on college campuses.

Two Papers on Majority Rule: Continuity Properties of Majority Rule with Intermediate Preferences. Electoral Outcomes with Probabilistic Voting and Nash Social Welfare Maxima.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-02-01

0685 i United States Office of Naval Research THE ECONOMIC SERIES INSTITUTE FOR MATHEMATICAL STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Fourth Floor, Encina Hall...of Economics Fourth Floor, Encina Hall Portland State University Stanford University P.O. Box 751 Stanford, California 94305 Portland, Oregon 97207 4...A) - for j 1 ,...,n. From the chosen c, then, v’(H +(6 1) nA) > 1/2 and v’ (Hf(y) n A) > 1/2. By Lemma 2, the above inequalities imply that d = *(v

Using multiple classifiers for predicting the risk of endovascular aortic aneurysm repair re-intervention through hybrid feature selection.

PubMed

Attallah, Omneya; Karthikesalingam, Alan; Holt, Peter Je; Thompson, Matthew M; Sayers, Rob; Bown, Matthew J; Choke, Eddie C; Ma, Xianghong

2017-11-01

Feature selection is essential in medical area; however, its process becomes complicated with the presence of censoring which is the unique character of survival analysis. Most survival feature selection methods are based on Cox's proportional hazard model, though machine learning classifiers are preferred. They are less employed in survival analysis due to censoring which prevents them from directly being used to survival data. Among the few work that employed machine learning classifiers, partial logistic artificial neural network with auto-relevance determination is a well-known method that deals with censoring and perform feature selection for survival data. However, it depends on data replication to handle censoring which leads to unbalanced and biased prediction results especially in highly censored data. Other methods cannot deal with high censoring. Therefore, in this article, a new hybrid feature selection method is proposed which presents a solution to high level censoring. It combines support vector machine, neural network, and K-nearest neighbor classifiers using simple majority voting and a new weighted majority voting method based on survival metric to construct a multiple classifier system. The new hybrid feature selection process uses multiple classifier system as a wrapper method and merges it with iterated feature ranking filter method to further reduce features. Two endovascular aortic repair datasets containing 91% censored patients collected from two centers were used to construct a multicenter study to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The results showed the proposed technique outperformed individual classifiers and variable selection methods based on Cox's model such as Akaike and Bayesian information criterions and least absolute shrinkage and selector operator in p values of the log-rank test, sensitivity, and concordance index. This indicates that the proposed classifier is more powerful in correctly predicting the risk of re-intervention enabling doctor in selecting patients' future follow-up plan.

Design and implementation of I2Vote--an interactive image-based voting system using windows mobile devices.

PubMed

van Ooijen, P M A; Broekema, A; Oudkerk, M

2011-08-01

To develop, implement and test a novel audience response system (ARS) that allows image based interaction for radiology education. The ARS developed in this project is based on standard Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) (HP iPAQ 114 classic handheld) running Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6 Classic with a large 3.5 in. TFT touch screen (320×240 pixel resolution), high luminance and integrated IEEE 802.11b/g wireless. For software development Visual Studio 2008 professional (Microsoft) was used and all components were written in C#. Two test sessions were conducted to test the software technically followed by two real classroom tests in a radiology class for medical students on thoracic radiology. The novel ARS, called I2Vote, was successfully implemented and provided an easy to use, stable setup. The acceptance of both students and teachers was very high and the interaction with the students improved because of the anonymous interaction possibility. An easy to use handheld based ARS that enables interactive, image-based, teaching is achieved. The system effectively adds an extra dimension to the use of an ARS. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Your Voice, Your Vote: A Lesson with Website Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathys, Lori; Bennett, Linda

2006-01-01

This article describes several websites that can be used to encourage students to vote. These include "The Democracy Project: Inside the Voting Booth" sponsored by PBS. This site addresses three elementary topics: how one vote has made a difference in U.S. history, how the right to vote has gradually been expanded to include minorities (African…

29 CFR 417.25 - Certification of results of vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Certification of results of vote. 417.25 Section 417.25... results of vote. Upon receipt of the report of the Assistant Secretary's Representative on the hearing and vote on removal, the Assistant Secretary shall certify the results of the vote to the court as required...

29 CFR 417.25 - Certification of results of vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Certification of results of vote. 417.25 Section 417.25... results of vote. Upon receipt of the report of the Director's Representative on the hearing and vote on removal, the Director shall certify the results of the vote to the court as required by section 402(c) of...

29 CFR 417.25 - Certification of results of vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Certification of results of vote. 417.25 Section 417.25... results of vote. Upon receipt of the report of the Director's Representative on the hearing and vote on removal, the Director shall certify the results of the vote to the court as required by section 402(c) of...

29 CFR 417.25 - Certification of results of vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Certification of results of vote. 417.25 Section 417.25... results of vote. Upon receipt of the report of the Assistant Secretary's Representative on the hearing and vote on removal, the Assistant Secretary shall certify the results of the vote to the court as required...

29 CFR 417.25 - Certification of results of vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Certification of results of vote. 417.25 Section 417.25... results of vote. Upon receipt of the report of the Assistant Secretary's Representative on the hearing and vote on removal, the Assistant Secretary shall certify the results of the vote to the court as required...

Canada Votes: How We Elect Our Government. Second Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granfield, Linda

This information book provides a student text on voting procedures in Canada. The short sections provide easy reading on the federal electoral process in Canada. Students read about who can vote, how and when women and minorities won voting rights, the different parties, the voting process --both present and past, and election day happenings.…

12 CFR 303.83 - Transactions not requiring prior notice.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... increase in ownership of voting shares resulting from a redemption of voting shares by the issuing bank or... acquisiition of additional voting shares of an insured state nonmember bank or a parent company by a person who: (i) Held the power to vote 25 percent or more of any class of voting shares of the institution...

29 CFR 452.91 - Voting by employers, supervisors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959 Right To Vote § 452.91 Voting by employers, supervisors. Voting in union... 29 Labor 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Voting by employers, supervisors. 452.91 Section 452.91... management is not precluded by title IV of the Act even if they are not required to maintain union membership...

29 CFR 452.91 - Voting by employers, supervisors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959 Right To Vote § 452.91 Voting by employers, supervisors. Voting in union... 29 Labor 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Voting by employers, supervisors. 452.91 Section 452.91... management is not precluded by title IV of the Act even if they are not required to maintain union membership...

28 CFR 55.5 - Coverage under section 4(f)(4).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT REGARDING LANGUAGE MINORITY GROUPS Nature of Coverage § 55.5 Coverage under... which (1) Over five percent of the voting-age citizens were, on November 1, 1972, members of a single... 1, 1972, and (3) Fewer than 50 percent of the voting-age citizens were registered to vote or voted...

28 CFR 55.5 - Coverage under section 4(f)(4).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT REGARDING LANGUAGE MINORITY GROUPS Nature of Coverage § 55.5 Coverage under... which (1) Over five percent of the voting-age citizens were, on November 1, 1972, members of a single... 1, 1972, and (3) Fewer than 50 percent of the voting-age citizens were registered to vote or voted...

Absentee Voting among Privately-Employed U.S. Citizens Living Overseas: Findings from the 1978 Post-Election Voting Survey (Form B).

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-06-01

citizens who live overseas. The questions concerned absentee voting experiences in the 1978 general election, interest in the election, sources of...cast ballots in the 1978 election. The most frequently cited reason for not voting was lack of information on absentee voting procedures. (Author)

The interdependence of perceived confession voluntariness and case evidence.

PubMed

Greenspan, Rachel; Scurich, Nicholas

2016-12-01

The current research investigated the mechanisms by which perceptions of confession evidence both influence and are influenced by perceptions of other case evidence using the theoretical framework of coherence-based reasoning (CBR). CBR posits that ambiguity and uncertainty are eschewed by artificially imposing consistency between pieces of evidence through bidirectional reasoning: Inferences about evidence lead to a preferred verdict, which in turn radiates backward to influence the perception of evidence. Two studies tested the CBR account with regard to confessions. An online sample of participants evaluated confession and nonconfession evidence at pretest and posttest. Study 1 revealed that, during pretest, participants (N = 119) deemed the evidence independent and nonprobative and the confession to be voluntary. However, at posttest, in the context of a criminal trial, participants considered the same evidence interrelated and highly inculpatory or exculpatory, depending on their verdict. Moreover, participants who voted to convict deemed the confession substantially voluntary, whereas participants who voted to acquit deemed it involuntary. Study 2 experimentally manipulated the strength of the nonconfession evidence in an effort to push participants (N = 127) toward a particular verdict. The same patterns of results emerged but were conditional on the strength of the nonconfession evidence: Strong case evidence caused the confession to be perceived as more voluntary, despite the fact that the confession was held constant. These findings replicate the coherence effect in a new domain and suggest that judges conducting harmless error analysis or making admissibility decisions might underappreciate the impact of confession evidence on jurors' verdicts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Shape-from-focus by tensor voting.

PubMed

Hariharan, R; Rajagopalan, A N

2012-07-01

In this correspondence, we address the task of recovering shape-from-focus (SFF) as a perceptual organization problem in 3-D. Using tensor voting, depth hypotheses from different focus operators are validated based on their likelihood to be part of a coherent 3-D surface, thereby exploiting scene geometry and focus information to generate reliable depth estimates. The proposed method is fast and yields significantly better results compared with existing SFF methods.

Nigeria: A Study into the Causes of Internal Conflict and Instability

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-23

Nigeria. Other indigenous tribal religions comprise the difference. Nigeria is essentially comprised of a northern dominated Muslim culture and a...southern dominated Christian culture . Differences in religious beliefs shape political party agendas and national will at the federal level of...a combined two-hundred and thirty- two electoral votes. In opposition was the Yoruba based Action Group with only seventy-three votes.21 The first

A solution to the single-question crowd wisdom problem.

PubMed

Prelec, Dražen; Seung, H Sebastian; McCoy, John

2017-01-25

Once considered provocative, the notion that the wisdom of the crowd is superior to any individual has become itself a piece of crowd wisdom, leading to speculation that online voting may soon put credentialed experts out of business. Recent applications include political and economic forecasting, evaluating nuclear safety, public policy, the quality of chemical probes, and possible responses to a restless volcano. Algorithms for extracting wisdom from the crowd are typically based on a democratic voting procedure. They are simple to apply and preserve the independence of personal judgment. However, democratic methods have serious limitations. They are biased for shallow, lowest common denominator information, at the expense of novel or specialized knowledge that is not widely shared. Adjustments based on measuring confidence do not solve this problem reliably. Here we propose the following alternative to a democratic vote: select the answer that is more popular than people predict. We show that this principle yields the best answer under reasonable assumptions about voter behaviour, while the standard 'most popular' or 'most confident' principles fail under exactly those same assumptions. Like traditional voting, the principle accepts unique problems, such as panel decisions about scientific or artistic merit, and legal or historical disputes. The potential application domain is thus broader than that covered by machine learning and psychometric methods, which require data across multiple questions.

Improving Remote Voting Security with CodeVoting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joaquim, Rui; Ribeiro, Carlos; Ferreira, Paulo

One of the major problems that prevents the spread of elections with the possibility of remote voting over electronic networks, also called Internet Voting, is the use of unreliable client platforms, such as the voter's computer and the Internet infrastructure connecting it to the election server. A computer connected to the Internet is exposed to viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, malware and other threats that can compromise the election's integrity. For instance, it is possible to write a virus that changes the voter's vote to a predetermined vote on election's day. Another possible attack is the creation of a fake election web site where the voter uses a malicious vote program on the web site that manipulates the voter's vote (phishing/pharming attack). Such attacks may not disturb the election protocol, therefore can remain undetected in the eyes of the election auditors.

Voting at 16: Turnout and the quality of vote choice.

PubMed

Wagner, Markus; Johann, David; Kritzinger, Sylvia

2012-06-01

Critics of giving citizens under 18 the right to vote argue that such teenagers lack the ability and motivation to participate effectively in elections. If this argument is true, lowering the voting age would have negative consequences for the quality of democracy. We test the argument using survey data from Austria, the only European country with a voting age of 16 in nation-wide elections. While the turnout levels of young people under 18 are relatively low, their failure to vote cannot be explained by a lower ability or motivation to participate. In addition, the quality of these citizens' choices is similar to that of older voters, so they do cast votes in ways that enable their interests to be represented equally well. These results are encouraging for supporters of a lower voting age.

Achieving Learning Objectives through E-Voting Case Studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bishop, Matt; Frincke, Deb

2007-01-01

The recent explosion in the use of electronic voting machines provides a wonderful opportunity to teach students about computer security. Because voting is the cornerstone of any democracy or republic, the need for secure voting systems is obvious. Further, students are familiar with how to vote. But the complexity of mapping a traditional process of voting using secret ballots to an electronic environment shows the difficulties of implementing secure processes and systems. In this article, we show a high level mapping from selected security and privacy education outcomes into a target ‘case study’ of developing electronic voting machines intended formore » traditional secret ballot elections. Our intent is to motivate both a set of lessons specifically involving e-voting, as well as illustrating the usefulness of having a mapping from outcomes to simplified case studies.« less

[Voting by cognitively impaired persons: legal and ethical issues].

PubMed

Bosquet, Antoine; Medjkane, Amar; Vinceneux, Philippe; Mahé, Isabelle

2010-03-01

In democratic countries, cognitively impaired persons are a substantial and growing group of citizens. Most of them are citizens with dementia. In dementia, cognitive impairment induces a loss of some capacities, resulting in vulnerability and increased need for assistance. Voting by cognitively impaired persons raises any questions about the integrity of the electoral process, the risk of fraud and the respect of their citizenship. In France, the law is not definite about the voting of cognitively impaired persons. An objective assessment for voting capacity may be useful both for professionals in charge of voting organisation and for guardianship judge in order to help him in his decision to remove or keep the voting right of persons placed under guardianship. Assessing the reality of voting by cognitively impaired citizens is necessary to advance respect for their right to vote.

77 FR 4293 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-27

...-HQ- OECA-2011-0233, to (1) EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), or by email... the OMB Inventory of Approved Burdens due to a mathematical error in determining the person hours per...

Patient-centered clinical trials.

PubMed

Chaudhuri, Shomesh E; Ho, Martin P; Irony, Telba; Sheldon, Murray; Lo, Andrew W

2018-02-01

We apply Bayesian decision analysis (BDA) to incorporate patient preferences in the regulatory approval process for new therapies. By assigning weights to type I and type II errors based on patient preferences, the significance level (α) and power (1-β) of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) for a new therapy can be optimized to maximize the value to current and future patients and, consequently, to public health. We find that for weight-loss devices, potentially effective low-risk treatments have optimal αs larger than the traditional one-sided significance level of 5%, whereas potentially less effective and riskier treatments have optimal αs below 5%. Moreover, the optimal RCT design, including trial size, varies with the risk aversion and time-to-access preferences and the medical need of the target population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

32 CFR 242b.5 - Voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... SCIENCES § 242b.5 Voting. (a) The concurrence of a majority of the Regents present at a meeting shall be... notation voting, by voting on material circulated to Regents individually or serially, or by polling of...

32 CFR 242b.5 - Voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... SCIENCES § 242b.5 Voting. (a) The concurrence of a majority of the Regents present at a meeting shall be... notation voting, by voting on material circulated to Regents individually or serially, or by polling of...

32 CFR 242b.5 - Voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... SCIENCES § 242b.5 Voting. (a) The concurrence of a majority of the Regents present at a meeting shall be... notation voting, by voting on material circulated to Regents individually or serially, or by polling of...

32 CFR 242b.5 - Voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... SCIENCES § 242b.5 Voting. (a) The concurrence of a majority of the Regents present at a meeting shall be... notation voting, by voting on material circulated to Regents individually or serially, or by polling of...

32 CFR 242b.5 - Voting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... SCIENCES § 242b.5 Voting. (a) The concurrence of a majority of the Regents present at a meeting shall be... notation voting, by voting on material circulated to Regents individually or serially, or by polling of...

Voting strategy for artifact reduction in digital breast tomosynthesis.

PubMed

Wu, Tao; Moore, Richard H; Kopans, Daniel B

2006-07-01

Artifacts are observed in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) reconstructions due to the small number of projections and the narrow angular range that are typically employed in tomosynthesis imaging. In this work, we investigate the reconstruction artifacts that are caused by high-attenuation features in breast and develop several artifact reduction methods based on a "voting strategy." The voting strategy identifies the projection(s) that would introduce artifacts to a voxel and rejects the projection(s) when reconstructing the voxel. Four approaches to the voting strategy were compared, including projection segmentation, maximum contribution deduction, one-step classification, and iterative classification. The projection segmentation method, based on segmentation of high-attenuation features from the projections, effectively reduces artifacts caused by metal and large calcifications that can be reliably detected and segmented from projections. The other three methods are based on the observation that contributions from artifact-inducing projections have higher value than those from normal projections. These methods attempt to identify the projection(s) that would cause artifacts by comparing contributions from different projections. Among the three methods, the iterative classification method provides the best artifact reduction; however, it can generate many false positive classifications that degrade the image quality. The maximum contribution deduction method and one-step classification method both reduce artifacts well from small calcifications, although the performance of artifact reduction is slightly better with the one-step classification. The combination of one-step classification and projection segmentation removes artifacts from both large and small calcifications.

Assessment of DoD Voting Assistance Programs for Calendar Year 2015

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-31

Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) (Title 52, United States Code...Chapter 203) provides the legal basis for absentee voting requirements for Federal offices. It requires that each state permit absent Uniformed...Services voters and overseas voters to use absentee registration procedures to vote by absentee ballot in general, special, primary, and runoff elections

Implementation of a polling protocol for predicting celiac disease in videocapsule analysis.

PubMed

Ciaccio, Edward J; Tennyson, Christina A; Bhagat, Govind; Lewis, Suzanne K; Green, Peter H

2013-07-16

To investigate the presence of small intestinal villous atrophy in celiac disease patients from quantitative analysis of videocapsule image sequences. Nine celiac patient data with biopsy-proven villous atrophy and seven control patient data lacking villous atrophy were used for analysis. Celiacs had biopsy-proven disease with scores of Marsh II-IIIC except in the case of one hemophiliac patient. At four small intestinal levels (duodenal bulb, distal duodenum, jejunum, and ileum), video clips of length 200 frames (100 s) were analyzed. Twenty-four measurements were used for image characterization. These measurements were determined by quantitatively processing the videocapsule images via techniques for texture analysis, motility estimation, volumetric reconstruction using shape-from-shading principles, and image transformation. Each automated measurement method, or automaton, was polled as to whether or not villous atrophy was present in the small intestine, indicating celiac disease. Each automaton's vote was determined based upon an optimized parameter threshold level, with the threshold levels being determined from prior data. A prediction of villous atrophy was made if it received the majority of votes (≥ 13), while no prediction was made for tie votes (12-12). Thus each set of images was classified as being from either a celiac disease patient or from a control patient. Separated by intestinal level, the overall sensitivity of automata polling for predicting villous atrophy and hence celiac disease was 83.9%, while the specificity was 92.9%, and the overall accuracy of automata-based polling was 88.1%. The method of image transformation yielded the highest sensitivity at 93.8%, while the method of texture analysis using subbands had the highest specificity at 76.0%. Similar results of prediction were observed at all four small intestinal locations, but there were more tie votes at location 4 (ileum). Incorrect prediction which reduced sensitivity occurred for two celiac patients with Marsh type II pattern, which is characterized by crypt hyperplasia, but normal villous architecture. Pooled from all levels, there was a mean of 14.31 ± 3.28 automaton votes for celiac vs 9.67 ± 3.31 automaton votes for control when celiac patient data was analyzed (P < 0.001). Pooled from all levels, there was a mean of 9.71 ± 2.8128 automaton votes for celiac vs 14.32 ± 2.7931 automaton votes for control when control patient data was analyzed (P < 0.001). Automata-based polling may be useful to indicate presence of mucosal atrophy, indicative of celiac disease, across the entire small bowel, though this must be confirmed in a larger patient set. Since the method is quantitative and automated, it can potentially eliminate observer bias and enable the detection of subtle abnormality in patients lacking a clear diagnosis. Our paradigm was found to be more efficacious at proximal small intestinal locations, which may suggest a greater presence and severity of villous atrophy at proximal as compared with distal locations.

Implementation of a polling protocol for predicting celiac disease in videocapsule analysis

PubMed Central

Ciaccio, Edward J; Tennyson, Christina A; Bhagat, Govind; Lewis, Suzanne K; Green, Peter H

2013-01-01

AIM: To investigate the presence of small intestinal villous atrophy in celiac disease patients from quantitative analysis of videocapsule image sequences. METHODS: Nine celiac patient data with biopsy-proven villous atrophy and seven control patient data lacking villous atrophy were used for analysis. Celiacs had biopsy-proven disease with scores of Marsh II-IIIC except in the case of one hemophiliac patient. At four small intestinal levels (duodenal bulb, distal duodenum, jejunum, and ileum), video clips of length 200 frames (100 s) were analyzed. Twenty-four measurements were used for image characterization. These measurements were determined by quantitatively processing the videocapsule images via techniques for texture analysis, motility estimation, volumetric reconstruction using shape-from-shading principles, and image transformation. Each automated measurement method, or automaton, was polled as to whether or not villous atrophy was present in the small intestine, indicating celiac disease. Each automaton’s vote was determined based upon an optimized parameter threshold level, with the threshold levels being determined from prior data. A prediction of villous atrophy was made if it received the majority of votes (≥ 13), while no prediction was made for tie votes (12-12). Thus each set of images was classified as being from either a celiac disease patient or from a control patient. RESULTS: Separated by intestinal level, the overall sensitivity of automata polling for predicting villous atrophy and hence celiac disease was 83.9%, while the specificity was 92.9%, and the overall accuracy of automata-based polling was 88.1%. The method of image transformation yielded the highest sensitivity at 93.8%, while the method of texture analysis using subbands had the highest specificity at 76.0%. Similar results of prediction were observed at all four small intestinal locations, but there were more tie votes at location 4 (ileum). Incorrect prediction which reduced sensitivity occurred for two celiac patients with Marsh type II pattern, which is characterized by crypt hyperplasia, but normal villous architecture. Pooled from all levels, there was a mean of 14.31 ± 3.28 automaton votes for celiac vs 9.67 ± 3.31 automaton votes for control when celiac patient data was analyzed (P < 0.001). Pooled from all levels, there was a mean of 9.71 ± 2.8128 automaton votes for celiac vs 14.32 ± 2.7931 automaton votes for control when control patient data was analyzed (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Automata-based polling may be useful to indicate presence of mucosal atrophy, indicative of celiac disease, across the entire small bowel, though this must be confirmed in a larger patient set. Since the method is quantitative and automated, it can potentially eliminate observer bias and enable the detection of subtle abnormality in patients lacking a clear diagnosis. Our paradigm was found to be more efficacious at proximal small intestinal locations, which may suggest a greater presence and severity of villous atrophy at proximal as compared with distal locations. PMID:23858375

Evidence-based Surgery of Aortic Regurgitation: Results of a Questionnaire in German-speaking Countries.

PubMed

Dinges, Christian; Steindl, Johannes; Hitzl, Wolfgang; Kiesslich, Tobias; Seitelberger, Rainald

2018-06-01

evidence-based medicine (EBM) approaches have reached broad acceptance, both in conservative and surgical disciplines. The aim of this study is to clarify the role of EBM in a rare condition of aortic regurgitation (AR) with surgical indication. A purpose-built Internet-based questionnaire was sent to 607 cardiovascular surgeons in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. A virtual 64-year-old patient's medical history was presented, including two ultrasound images and one computed tomography scan, showing a 58-mm aortic root aneurysm and a severe trileaflet regurgitant aortic valve. Participants had to choose their preferred therapeutic strategy from a list. Additionally, demographics including nationality, the center size, and the frequency of similar types of patients referred to their departments were collected. Of 607 questionnaires, 100 were returned (16%). One participant was excluded due to conflicting answers. Most surgeons ( n  = 84; 84%) chose a valve-sparing root replacement (VSRR). A Bentall procedure was preferred by 13 surgeons (13%). Two surgeons voted for aortic valve replacement combined with partial root resection. The decision-making process was not significantly influenced by center size, nationality, or frequency of patients. Applying the current guidelines to our virtual study patient, 84% of participants acted accordingly choosing VSRR. Remarkably, 14% of these surgeons see less than 10 and 43% see not more than 20 comparable patients per year. Since the guidelines reserve VSRR for competent centers, those numbers as well as the guidelines themselves should be further discussed. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Management of patients with advanced prostate cancer: recommendations of the St Gallen Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) 2015

PubMed Central

Gillessen, S.; Omlin, A.; Attard, G.; de Bono, J. S.; Efstathiou, E.; Fizazi, K.; Halabi, S.; Nelson, P. S.; Sartor, O.; Smith, M. R.; Soule, H. R.; Akaza, H.; Beer, T. M.; Beltran, H.; Chinnaiyan, A. M.; Daugaard, G.; Davis, I. D.; De Santis, M.; Drake, C. G.; Eeles, R. A.; Fanti, S.; Gleave, M. E.; Heidenreich, A.; Hussain, M.; James, N. D.; Lecouvet, F. E.; Logothetis, C. J.; Mastris, K.; Nilsson, S.; Oh, W. K.; Olmos, D.; Padhani, A. R.; Parker, C.; Rubin, M. A.; Schalken, J. A.; Scher, H. I.; Sella, A.; Shore, N. D.; Small, E. J.; Sternberg, C. N.; Suzuki, H.; Sweeney, C. J.; Tannock, I. F.; Tombal, B.

2015-01-01

The first St Gallen Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) Expert Panel identified and reviewed the available evidence for the ten most important areas of controversy in advanced prostate cancer (APC) management. The successful registration of several drugs for castration-resistant prostate cancer and the recent studies of chemo-hormonal therapy in men with castration-naïve prostate cancer have led to considerable uncertainty as to the best treatment choices, sequence of treatment options and appropriate patient selection. Management recommendations based on expert opinion, and not based on a critical review of the available evidence, are presented. The various recommendations carried differing degrees of support, as reflected in the wording of the article text and in the detailed voting results recorded in supplementary Material, available at Annals of Oncology online. Detailed decisions on treatment as always will involve consideration of disease extent and location, prior treatments, host factors, patient preferences as well as logistical and economic constraints. Inclusion of men with APC in clinical trials should be encouraged. PMID:26041764

Zohydro approval by food and drug administration: controversial or frightening?

PubMed

Manchikanti, Laxmaiah; Atluri, Sairam; Candido, Kenneth D; Boswell, Mark V; Simopoulos, Thomas T; Grider, Jay S; Falco, Frank J E; Hirsch, Joshua A

2014-01-01

The actions and regulations of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are crucial to the entire population of the U.S., specifically the public who take a multitude of drugs and providers who prescribe drugs and devices. Further, the FDA is relevant to investors, specifically in regards to biotech and pharmaceutical companies involved in developing new drugs. The FDA has been criticized for a lack of independence on the one hand and excessive regulatory and expanding authority without evidence and consistency of the actions on the other hand. The FDA approved a single-entity, long-acting, hydrocodone product (Zohydro, Zogenix, San Diego, CA) on October 25, 2013, against the recommendation of the FDA's own appointed scientific advisory panel, which voted 11 to 2 against the approval of Zohydro. Subsequent to the approval, multiple consumer safety organizations, health care agencies, addiction treatment providers, professional organizations, and other groups on the frontline of the opioid addiction epidemic have expressed concern. In addition, the US Congress and various state attorneys general raised serious concerns about the approval of Zohydro, which is highly addictive and may enhance the opioid addiction epidemic. Supporters of Zohydro contend that it is necessary and essential to manage chronic pain and improve functional status with no additional risk. Over the past 15 years, prescriptions for opioids have skyrocketed with the United States consuming more than 84% of the global oxycodone and more than 99% of the hydrocodone supply. The sharp increase in opioid prescribing has led to parallel increases in opioid addiction and overdose deaths, surpassing motor vehicle injuries in the U.S. Recent studies assessing the trends of medical use and misuse of opioid analgesics from 2000 to 2011 have concluded that the present trend of the continued increase in the medical use of opioid analgesics appears to contribute to increasing misuse, resulting in multiple health consequences, despite numerous regulations enforced by multiple organizations. The approval of Zohydro and its defense from the FDA were based on a misunderstanding of the prevalence of chronic severe disabling pain. Based on inaccurate data from the Institute of Medicine, in part caused by conflicts of interest, 100 million persons have been described to suffer from severe pain - the correct number is 22.6 million. This manuscript analyzes 3 important principles of drug approval and utilization based on safety, efficacy, and medical necessity. Based on the limited literature that the authors were able to review including that which was submitted to the FDA by the manufacturers, it appears the safety, efficacy, and medical necessity were not demonstrated. In fact, the study submitted to the FDA showed a 50% pain improvement in only 48% of the patients in the treatment group and 21% of the patients in the placebo group at 85 day follow-up. This is a statistically significant result but its clinical relevance is unknown. The FDA approval decision occurring against the backdrop of the advisory panel recommendation is concerning and may result in serious consequences in the future.

A survey to determine agreement regarding the definition of centric relation.

PubMed

Goldstein, Gary; Andrawis, Mark; Choi, Mijin; Wiens, Jonathan; Janal, Malvin N

2017-03-01

The definition of centric relation (CR) has been both controversial and divisive, with little consensus. The purpose of this study was to determine whether agreement can be reached on a definition for CR among the Fellows of the Academy of Prosthodontics, the organization that writes the Glossary of Prosthodontic Terms. A survey of the Fellows of the Academy of Prosthodontics was conducted at the organization's annual business meeting. Of the 83 eligible Fellows in attendance, 72 responded to the survey, a response rate of 86%. Of those, the 5 responders who did not indicate a preferred definition and the 2 that chose 2 definitions were censored, yielding an analyzable sample of 65 for the definitions. The most common definition received 19 votes, the next 16, and the third 13, with the other 6 definitions receiving from 2 to 5 votes. Some of the variability in definition depended on the era of training. Disagreement and confusion continues regarding the definition of centric relation. Some of this disagreement can be explained by training era. Copyright © 2016 Editorial Council for the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The association between county political inclination and obesity: Results from the 2012 presidential election in the United States.

PubMed

Shin, Michael E; McCarthy, William J

2013-11-01

We examined whether stable, county-level, voter preferences were significantly associated with county-level obesity prevalence using data from the 2012 US Presidential election. County voting preference for the 2012 Republican Party presidential candidate was used as a proxy for voter endorsement of personal responsibility approaches to reducing population obesity risk versus approaches featuring government-sponsored, multi-sectoral efforts like those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2009). Cartographic visualization and spatial analysis were used to evaluate the geographic clustering of obesity prevalence rates by county, and county-level support for the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. The spatial analysis informed the spatial econometric approach employed to model the relationship between political preferences and other covariates with obesity prevalence. After controlling for poverty rate, percent African American and Latino populations, educational attainment, and spatial autocorrelation in the error term, we found that higher county-level obesity prevalence rates were associated with higher levels of support for the 2012 Republican Party presidential candidate. Future public health efforts to understand and reduce obesity risk may benefit from increased surveillance of this and similar linkages between political preferences and health risks. © 2013.

Engaging communication experts in a Delphi process to identify patient behaviors that could enhance communication in medical encounters

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The communication literature currently focuses primarily on improving physicians' verbal and non-verbal behaviors during the medical interview. The Four Habits Model is a teaching and research framework for physician communication that is based on evidence linking specific communication behaviors with processes and outcomes of care. The Model conceptualizes basic communication tasks as "Habits" and describes the sequence of physician communication behaviors during the clinical encounter associated with improved outcomes. Using the Four Habits Model as a starting point, we asked communication experts to identify the verbal communication behaviors of patients that are important in outpatient encounters. Methods We conducted a 4-round Delphi process with 17 international experts in communication research, medical education, and health care delivery. All rounds were conducted via the internet. In round 1, experts reviewed a list of proposed patient verbal communication behaviors within the Four Habits Model framework. The proposed patient verbal communication behaviors were identified based on a review of the communication literature. The experts could: approve the proposed list; add new behaviors; or modify behaviors. In rounds 2, 3, and 4, they rated each behavior for its fit (agree or disagree) with a particular habit. After each round, we calculated the percent agreement for each behavior and provided these data in the next round. Behaviors receiving more than 70% of experts' votes (either agree or disagree) were considered as achieving consensus. Results Of the 14 originally-proposed patient verbal communication behaviors, the experts modified all but 2, and they added 20 behaviors to the Model in round 1. In round 2, they were presented with 59 behaviors and 14 options to remove specific behaviors for rating. After 3 rounds of rating, the experts retained 22 behaviors. This set included behaviors such as asking questions, expressing preferences, and summarizing information. Conclusion The process identified communication tasks and verbal communication behaviors for patients similar to those outlined for physicians in the Four Habits Model. This represents an important step in building a single model that can be applied to teaching patients and physicians the communication skills associated with improved satisfaction and positive outcomes of care. PMID:20403173

The impact of voting on tax payments

PubMed Central

Wahl, Ingrid; Muehlbacher, Stephan; Kirchler, Erich

2010-01-01

This study examines whether participating in governmental decisions influences taxpayers’ cooperation. The results of experiment 1 show that participants tend to contribute more when they can vote on different rules for a public good game. Experiment 2 reveals that tax payments are lowest in a tax simulation when participants benefit from tax payments and can not vote. However, when the participants did not benefit from tax payments, voting had no impact and cooperation was about the same as when participants benefited and could vote. Furthermore, voting increases procedural fairness and trust mediates the effect of procedural fairness on tax payments. PMID:21654938

2018 Guidelines for the Early Management of Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Guideline for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

PubMed

Powers, William J; Rabinstein, Alejandro A; Ackerson, Teri; Adeoye, Opeolu M; Bambakidis, Nicholas C; Becker, Kyra; Biller, José; Brown, Michael; Demaerschalk, Bart M; Hoh, Brian; Jauch, Edward C; Kidwell, Chelsea S; Leslie-Mazwi, Thabele M; Ovbiagele, Bruce; Scott, Phillip A; Sheth, Kevin N; Southerland, Andrew M; Summers, Deborah V; Tirschwell, David L

2018-03-01

The purpose of these guidelines is to provide an up-to-date comprehensive set of recommendations for clinicians caring for adult patients with acute arterial ischemic stroke in a single document. The intended audiences are prehospital care providers, physicians, allied health professionals, and hospital administrators. These guidelines supersede the 2013 guidelines and subsequent updates. Members of the writing group were appointed by the American Heart Association Stroke Council's Scientific Statements Oversight Committee, representing various areas of medical expertise. Strict adherence to the American Heart Association conflict of interest policy was maintained. Members were not allowed to participate in discussions or to vote on topics relevant to their relations with industry. The members of the writing group unanimously approved all recommendations except when relations with industry precluded members voting. Prerelease review of the draft guideline was performed by 4 expert peer reviewers and by the members of the Stroke Council's Scientific Statements Oversight Committee and Stroke Council Leadership Committee. These guidelines use the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association 2015 Class of Recommendations and Levels of Evidence and the new American Heart Association guidelines format. These guidelines detail prehospital care, urgent and emergency evaluation and treatment with intravenous and intra-arterial therapies, and in-hospital management, including secondary prevention measures that are appropriately instituted within the first 2 weeks. The guidelines support the overarching concept of stroke systems of care in both the prehospital and hospital settings. These guidelines are based on the best evidence currently available. In many instances, however, only limited data exist demonstrating the urgent need for continued research on treatment of acute ischemic stroke. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

[Parental stance towards alcohol consumption in 12- to 17-year-old adolescents from six urban areas in Spain].

PubMed

March Cerdá, Joan Carles; Prieto Rodríguez, María Angeles; Danet, Alina; Ruiz Azarola, Ainhoa; García Toyos, Noelia; Ruiz Román, Paloma

2010-01-01

To determine the opinions of urban parents on alcohol drinking in teenagers and their positioning regarding the legal restrictive measures. We performed a qualitative study of six focal groups including 42 mothers and fathers of adolescents from six different Spanish regions and from diverse social strata. The quantitative part of the study consisted of a 1-10 scale questionnaire, measuring parents' acceptance and opinion about legal measures restricting underage drinking. Means and standard deviation were calculated. Parents did not consider adolescent alcohol drinking to be a problem so long as it was moderate and leisure time-related. The social and cultural context was permissive with the alcohol consumption. Alcohol intake depended on both external (social pressure) and internal (family) factors. Fathers' preferred to exercise authority, while mothers preferred communication and education skills. Parents approved of teachers' interventions, especially when based on the student's overall education and not restricted to knowledge transmission. Public institutions and authorities were held responsible for adolescents' lack of information, the scarcity of leisure-time alternatives and for not ensuring compliance with current regulations. Parents approved restrictions regarding the sale and advertising of alcohol. Parents recognize adolescent alcohol drinking as a problem and tend to deal with it. Parents use distinct intervention strategies and generally approve legal measures. Copyright 2008 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Thermal sensations and comfort investigations in transient conditions in tropical office.

PubMed

Dahlan, Nur Dalilah; Gital, Yakubu Yau

2016-05-01

The study was done to identify affective and sensory responses observed as a result of hysteresis effects in transient thermal conditions consisting of warm-neutral and neutral - warm performed in a quasi-experiment setting. Air-conditioned building interiors in hot-humid areas have resulted in thermal discomfort and health risks for people moving into and out of buildings. Reports have shown that the instantaneous change in air temperature can cause abrupt thermoregulation responses. Thermal sensation vote (TSV) and thermal comfort vote (TCV) assessments as a consequence of moving through spaces with distinct thermal conditions were conducted in an existing single-story office in a hot-humid microclimate, maintained at an air temperature 24 °C (± 0.5), relative humidity 51% (± 7), air velocity 0.5 m/s (± 0.5), and mean radiant temperature (MRT) 26.6 °C (± 1.2). The measured office is connected to a veranda that showed the following semi-outdoor temperatures: air temperature 35 °C (± 2.1), relative humidity 43% (± 7), air velocity 0.4 m/s (± 0.4), and MRT 36.4 °C (± 2.9). Subjective assessments from 36 college-aged participants consisting of thermal sensations, preferences and comfort votes were correlated against a steady state predicted mean vote (PMV) model. Local skin temperatures on the forehead and dorsal left hand were included to observe physiological responses due to thermal transition. TSV for veranda-office transition showed that no significant means difference with TSV office-veranda transition were found. However, TCV collected from warm-neutral (-0.24, ± 1.2) and neutral-warm (-0.72, ± 1.3) conditions revealed statistically significant mean differences (p < 0.05). Sensory and affective responses as a consequence of thermal transition after travel from warm-neutral-warm conditions did not replicate the hysteresis effects of brief, slightly cool, thermal sensations found in previous laboratory experiments. These findings also indicate that PMV is an acceptable alternative to predict thermal sensation immediately after a down-step thermal transition (≤ 1 min exposure duration) for people living in a hot-humid climate country. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Development of quality metrics for ambulatory care in pediatric patients with tetralogy of Fallot.

PubMed

Villafane, Juan; Edwards, Thomas C; Diab, Karim A; Satou, Gary M; Saarel, Elizabeth; Lai, Wyman W; Serwer, Gerald A; Karpawich, Peter P; Cross, Russell; Schiff, Russell; Chowdhury, Devyani; Hougen, Thomas J

2017-12-01

The objective of this study was to develop quality metrics (QMs) relating to the ambulatory care of children after complete repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). A workgroup team (WT) of pediatric cardiologists with expertise in all aspects of ambulatory cardiac management was formed at the request of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Adult Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology Council (ACPC), to review published guidelines and consensus data relating to the ambulatory care of repaired TOF patients under the age of 18 years. A set of quality metrics (QMs) was proposed by the WT. The metrics went through a two-step evaluation process. In the first step, the RAND-UCLA modified Delphi methodology was employed and the metrics were voted on feasibility and validity by an expert panel. In the second step, QMs were put through an "open comments" process where feedback was provided by the ACPC members. The final QMs were approved by the ACPC council. The TOF WT formulated 9 QMs of which only 6 were submitted to the expert panel; 3 QMs passed the modified RAND-UCLA and went through the "open comments" process. Based on the feedback through the open comment process, only 1 metric was finally approved by the ACPC council. The ACPC Council was able to develop QM for ambulatory care of children with repaired TOF. These patients should have documented genetic testing for 22q11.2 deletion. However, lack of evidence in the literature made it a challenge to formulate other evidence-based QMs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Teriflunomide for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: patient preference and adherence.

PubMed

Bayas, Antonios; Mäurer, Mathias

2015-01-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic demyelinating neuroinflammatory disease of the central nervous system, is the most common neurological disorder leading to disability in young adulthood. In the last 2 decades, numerous treatments for relapsing-remitting MS have been approved with eleven treatment options available worldwide. One of the determinants in treatment selection is disease activity in the individual patient. However, patient preferences play an increasingly major role in treatment decision making. With teriflunomide, a reversible inhibitor of the enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, a new oral therapeutic option, given once daily, has been approved within the last 2 years by the regulatory agencies. The current review focuses on characteristics of the drug relevant for patients' preferences in the treatment decision process in the light of the available medications. Perceiving and considering patients' preferences will have an effect on treatment adherence, which is known to be often low in MS patients. Teriflunomide-related adherence issues will also be discussed regarding mode of application, dosing, and potential side effects.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Background and Issues

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-08

Order Code RS20764 Updated March 8, 2007 The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Background and Issues Kevin J. Coleman Analyst in...register and vote absentee in federal elections under the provisions of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986. The law was...enacted to improve absentee registration and voting for this group of voters and to consolidate existing laws. Since 1942, several federal laws have

Voting by older adults with cognitive impairments.

PubMed

Karlawish, Jason

2008-02-01

This presidential election year reminds us of the importance of each vote and of the integrity of the electoral process. Recent elections have been decided by very narrow margins. In this context, the voting rights and capacity of persons with dementia warrant attention. About 4.5 million Americans currently live with dementia. Whether these citizens should vote raises a host of ethical, legal, and practical issues. At what point does someone lose the capacity to vote, and who decides? What kinds of assistance should these voters get, and who should provide it? And how can the voting rights of residents in long-term care facilities be protected?

Tensor voting for image correction by global and local intensity alignment.

PubMed

Jia, Jiaya; Tang, Chi-Keung

2005-01-01

This paper presents a voting method to perform image correction by global and local intensity alignment. The key to our modeless approach is the estimation of global and local replacement functions by reducing the complex estimation problem to the robust 2D tensor voting in the corresponding voting spaces. No complicated model for replacement function (curve) is assumed. Subject to the monotonic constraint only, we vote for an optimal replacement function by propagating the curve smoothness constraint using a dense tensor field. Our method effectively infers missing curve segments and rejects image outliers. Applications using our tensor voting approach are proposed and described. The first application consists of image mosaicking of static scenes, where the voted replacement functions are used in our iterative registration algorithm for computing the best warping matrix. In the presence of occlusion, our replacement function can be employed to construct a visually acceptable mosaic by detecting occlusion which has large and piecewise constant color. Furthermore, by the simultaneous consideration of color matches and spatial constraints in the voting space, we perform image intensity compensation and high contrast image correction using our voting framework, when only two defective input images are given.

Provable Transient Recovery for Frame-Based, Fault-Tolerant Computing Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DiVito, Ben L.; Butler, Ricky W.

1992-01-01

We present a formal verification of the transient fault recovery aspects of the Reliable Computing Platform (RCP), a fault-tolerant computing system architecture for digital flight control applications. The RCP uses NMR-style redundancy to mask faults and internal majority voting to purge the effects of transient faults. The system design has been formally specified and verified using the EHDM verification system. Our formalization accommodates a wide variety of voting schemes for purging the effects of transients.

76 FR 27016 - Evaluating Test Procedures for Voting Systems

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-10

...-02] Evaluating Test Procedures for Voting Systems AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and... Assistance Commission for use by NIST in research to develop and assess NIST's test procedures for voting... develop and assess NIST test protocols for voting equipment. NIST research is designed to: (1) Develop...

28 CFR 51.19 - Request for notification concerning voting litigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... voting litigation. 51.19 Section 51.19 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED General... to notify the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, at the addresses, telefacsimile number...

Consumer and health literacy: The need to better design tobacco-cessation product packaging, labels, and inserts.

PubMed

Weiss, Stephanie M; Smith-Simone, Stephanie Y

2010-03-01

Tobacco-cessation product packaging and instruction materials may not be appropriate for some smokers and may contribute to the underuse and misuse of evidence-based treatments. The dual goals of this project are to analyze literacy levels of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved and non-approved tobacco-cessation product packaging, directions, and claims, and to identify and categorize claims found on product packaging. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) maintains the Quitting and Reducing Tobacco Use Inventory of Products (QuiTIP) database, which catalogs products marketed and sold to consumers to reduce or quit use of tobacco products. It also includes all medications approved by the FDA for tobacco cessation as well as a sample of non-approved products such as homeopathic, herbal, nutritional, or dietary supplements commonly marketed as either cessation aids or alternative tobacco/nicotine products. This paper assesses the reading levels required to understand product packaging, labeling, and instructions using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) and identifies claims on the product package labels using standard qualitative methods. Key findings show that the average reading levels needed to understand instructions for both FDA-approved and non-approved cessation products are above the reading levels recommended to ensure maximum comprehension. Improving the packaging and directions of evidence-based tobacco-cessation products so that they are preferably at or below a fifth-grade reading level, along with using consumer-based design principles to develop packaging, may help smokers take advantage of and correctly use products that will greatly increase their chances of successful quitting. 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

78 FR 42949 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-18

... smart pedometer to motivate users to increase physical activity and health education classes focused on...-30D] Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public... norms, common barriers to health, patterns of physical and mental health access, and preferences for...

49 CFR 194.119 - Submission and approval procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... PLANS FOR ONSHORE OIL PIPELINES Response Plans § 194.119 Submission and approval procedures. (a) Each operator shall submit two copies of the response plan required by this part. Copies of the response plan...: Submission of plans in electronic format is preferred. (b) If PHMSA determines that a response plan requiring...

49 CFR 194.119 - Submission and approval procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... PLANS FOR ONSHORE OIL PIPELINES Response Plans § 194.119 Submission and approval procedures. (a) Each operator shall submit two copies of the response plan required by this part. Copies of the response plan...: Submission of plans in electronic format is preferred. (b) If PHMSA determines that a response plan requiring...

49 CFR 194.119 - Submission and approval procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... PLANS FOR ONSHORE OIL PIPELINES Response Plans § 194.119 Submission and approval procedures. (a) Each operator shall submit two copies of the response plan required by this part. Copies of the response plan...: Submission of plans in electronic format is preferred. (b) If PHMSA determines that a response plan requiring...

49 CFR 194.119 - Submission and approval procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... PLANS FOR ONSHORE OIL PIPELINES Response Plans § 194.119 Submission and approval procedures. (a) Each operator shall submit two copies of the response plan required by this part. Copies of the response plan...: Submission of plans in electronic format is preferred. (b) If PHMSA determines that a response plan requiring...

49 CFR 194.119 - Submission and approval procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... PLANS FOR ONSHORE OIL PIPELINES Response Plans § 194.119 Submission and approval procedures. (a) Each operator shall submit two copies of the response plan required by this part. Copies of the response plan...: Submission of plans in electronic format is preferred. (b) If PHMSA determines that a response plan requiring...

Native American Identity Development and Counseling Preferences: A Study of Lumbee Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scholl, Mark B.

2006-01-01

The author investigated the relationships among the racial identity development status levels (preencounter, dissonance, immersion/resistance, and internalization) of 121 Native American college students and their preferences for counselor role (audience giving, approval giving, advice giving, and relationship giving). Participants most preferred…

42 CFR 441.468 - Service plan elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... participant's preferences, choices, and abilities, and strategies to address those preferences, choices, and..., the State must describe the safeguards that are in place to ensure that the service provider's role in... applicable, and controls are in place to avoid any possible conflict of interest. (e) An approved self...

28 CFR 51.29 - Communications concerning voting changes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Communications concerning voting changes... Groups § 51.29 Communications concerning voting changes. Any individual or group may send to the Attorney General information concerning a change affecting voting in a jurisdiction to which section 5 applies. (a...

The Relationship between Voting Knowledge and Voting Attitudes of Selected Ninth and Tenth Grade Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golden, Kathleen

1985-01-01

A study showed that the acquisition of voting knowledge in a civics class positively influenced ninth- and tenth-grade students' attitudes toward voting. Teachers should give students a solid foundation concerning the electoral process and encourage students to participate in the political process. (RM)

7 CFR 1160.603 - Who may vote.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... person shall be refused a ballot. Any person casting more than one ballot with conflicting votes shall thereby invalidate all ballots cast by such person in such referendum. Each person voting shall have registered with the referendum agent prior to the voting period. Each ballot cast shall contain a...

History of Voting in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Elizabeth M.

1996-01-01

Explores the constitutional amendments and federal laws that extended the right to vote to most citizens. Discusses the historical circumstances and social issues that surrounded passage of the 15th Amendment (elimination of racial barriers), 19th Amendment (women's right to vote), and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (MJP)

77 FR 57486 - Federal Voting Assistance Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-18

... covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) as modified by the Military... among the various levels of Government. List of Subjects in 32 CFR Part 233 Voting rights, civil rights... Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), 42 U.S.C. 1973ff-1973ff-6. (b) Establishes policy and assigns...

28 CFR 51.19 - Request for notification concerning voting litigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... voting litigation. 51.19 Section 51.19 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED General... promptly to notify the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, P.O. Box 66128...

28 CFR 51.29 - Communications concerning voting changes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Communications From Individuals and... section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.” Comments should include, where available, the name of the... the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, at the addresses, telefacsimile number, or email...

78 FR 25677 - Balloting Materials Postage

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-02

... for the return of ballots, unless mailed under the special exemption for military or overseas voting.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: With the growth of no excuse absentee voting, and the spread of vote-by-mail efforts... exemption for military and overseas voting or returned under Business Reply Mail service must indicate in a...

12 CFR 708b.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Regional Director. The certification will include, at a minimum, the number of members who voted, the number of affirmative votes, and the number of negative votes. During the course of the voting period the..., and internet website posting. (3) Does not include communications intended to be read only by the...

12 CFR 708b.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Regional Director. The certification will include, at a minimum, the number of members who voted, the number of affirmative votes, and the number of negative votes. During the course of the voting period the..., and internet website posting. (3) Does not include communications intended to be read only by the...

12 CFR 708b.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Regional Director. The certification will include, at a minimum, the number of members who voted, the number of affirmative votes, and the number of negative votes. During the course of the voting period the..., and internet website posting. (3) Does not include communications intended to be read only by the...

An efficient voting algorithm for finding additive biclusters with random background.

PubMed

Xiao, Jing; Wang, Lusheng; Liu, Xiaowen; Jiang, Tao

2008-12-01

The biclustering problem has been extensively studied in many areas, including e-commerce, data mining, machine learning, pattern recognition, statistics, and, more recently, computational biology. Given an n x m matrix A (n >or= m), the main goal of biclustering is to identify a subset of rows (called objects) and a subset of columns (called properties) such that some objective function that specifies the quality of the found bicluster (formed by the subsets of rows and of columns of A) is optimized. The problem has been proved or conjectured to be NP-hard for various objective functions. In this article, we study a probabilistic model for the implanted additive bicluster problem, where each element in the n x m background matrix is a random integer from [0, L - 1] for some integer L, and a k x k implanted additive bicluster is obtained from an error-free additive bicluster by randomly changing each element to a number in [0, L - 1] with probability theta. We propose an O(n(2)m) time algorithm based on voting to solve the problem. We show that when k >or= Omega(square root of (n log n)), the voting algorithm can correctly find the implanted bicluster with probability at least 1 - (9/n(2)). We also implement our algorithm as a C++ program named VOTE. The implementation incorporates several ideas for estimating the size of an implanted bicluster, adjusting the threshold in voting, dealing with small biclusters, and dealing with overlapping implanted biclusters. Our experimental results on both simulated and real datasets show that VOTE can find biclusters with a high accuracy and speed.

Voting procedures from the perspective of theory of neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suleimenov, Ibragim; Panchenko, Sergey; Gabrielyan, Oleg; Pak, Ivan

2016-11-01

It is shown that voting procedure in any authority can be treated as Hopfield neural network analogue. It was revealed that weight coefficients of neural network which has discrete outputs -1 and 1 can be replaced by coefficients of a discrete set (-1, 0, 1). This gives us the opportunity to qualitatively analyze the voting procedure on the basis of limited data about mutual influence of members. It also proves that result of voting procedure is actually taken by network formed by voting members.

Anonymity in Voting Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jonker, Hugo; Pieters, Wolter

According to international law, anonymity of the voter is a fundamental precondition for democratic elections. In electronic voting, several aspects of voter anonymity have been identified. In this paper, we re-examine anonymity with respect to voting, and generalise existing notions of anonymity in e-voting. First, we identify and categorise the types of attack that can be a threat to anonymity of the voter, including different types of vote buying and coercion. This analysis leads to a categorisation of anonymity in voting in terms of a) the strength of the anonymity achieved and b) the extent of interaction between voter and attacker. Some of the combinations, including weak and strong receipt-freeness, are formalised in epistemic logic.

The Witness-Voting System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerck, Ed

We present a new, comprehensive framework to qualitatively improve election outcome trustworthiness, where voting is modeled as an information transfer process. Although voting is deterministic (all ballots are counted), information is treated stochastically using Information Theory. Error considerations, including faults, attacks, and threats by adversaries, are explicitly included. The influence of errors may be corrected to achieve an election outcome error as close to zero as desired (error-free), with a provably optimal design that is applicable to any type of voting, with or without ballots. Sixteen voting system requirements, including functional, performance, environmental and non-functional considerations, are derived and rated, meeting or exceeding current public-election requirements. The voter and the vote are unlinkable (secret ballot) although each is identifiable. The Witness-Voting System (Gerck, 2001) is extended as a conforming implementation of the provably optimal design that is error-free, transparent, simple, scalable, robust, receipt-free, universally-verifiable, 100% voter-verified, and end-to-end audited.

Retrospective voting and party support at elections: credit and blame for government and opposition

PubMed Central

Plescia, Carolina; Kritzinger, Sylvia

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Retrospective voting is arguably one of the most important mechanisms of representative democracy, and whether or not the public holds the government accountable for its policy performance has been extensively studied. In this paper, we test whether retrospective voting extends to parties in the opposition, that is whether and how parties’ past performance evaluations affect their vote, regardless of whether they were in government or in opposition. Taking advantage of a rich set of questions embedded in a representative German national elections panel, we update our knowledge on the retrospective voting mechanism by modeling retrospective voting at the party level. The findings indicate that the incumbent status is not the only criterion for retrospective voting, ultimately suggesting that both government and opposition parties can expect credit and blame for their conduct and this should provide some impetus for responsive performance of all parties. PMID:28515772

Do Implicit Attitudes Predict Actual Voting Behavior Particularly for Undecided Voters?

PubMed Central

Friese, Malte; Smith, Colin Tucker; Plischke, Thomas; Bluemke, Matthias; Nosek, Brian A.

2012-01-01

The prediction of voting behavior of undecided voters poses a challenge to psychologists and pollsters. Recently, researchers argued that implicit attitudes would predict voting behavior particularly for undecided voters whereas explicit attitudes would predict voting behavior particularly for decided voters. We tested this assumption in two studies in two countries with distinct political systems in the context of real political elections. Results revealed that (a) explicit attitudes predicted voting behavior better than implicit attitudes for both decided and undecided voters, and (b) implicit attitudes predicted voting behavior better for decided than undecided voters. We propose that greater elaboration of attitudes produces stronger convergence between implicit and explicit attitudes resulting in better predictive validity of both, and less incremental validity of implicit over explicit attitudes for the prediction of voting behavior. However, greater incremental predictive validity of implicit over explicit attitudes may be associated with less elaboration. PMID:22952898

Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Handbook for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Dale L.; Vaughan, William W.

2004-01-01

Aerospace Meteorology provides the identification of that aspect of meteorology that is concerned with the definition and modeling of atmospheric parameters for use in aerospace vehicle development, mission planning and operational capability assessments. One of the principal sources of this information is the NASA-HDBK-1001 "Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Handbook for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development'. This handbook was approved by the NASA Chief Engineer in 2000 as a NASA Preferred Technical Standard . Its technical contents were based on natural environment statistics/models and criteria developed mostly in the early 1990's. A task was approved to completely update the handbook to reflect the current state-of-the-art in the various terrestrial environment climatic areas.

78 FR 72891 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-04

...' preferences about specific long- term care insurance features. In the DCE, respondents will complete a series... of hypothetical comparisons provide quantitative data on the relative preferences and importance of... research study, the study purpose, procedures, duration of the survey, possible risks or discomforts from...

The Village Election

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kowszun, Jorj

2017-01-01

A vote with two candidates is simple -- the majority is clear. When there are more candidates, the vote is still clear if one receives more votes than all the others put together. Problems can occur if no candidate has that overall majority. Here are illustrated several voting methods that attempt to achieve fairness in a single election without…

Classroom Voting Questions to Stimulate Discussions in Precalculus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cline, Kelly; Zullo, Holly; Huckaby, David A.; Storm, Christopher; Stewart, Ann

2018-01-01

Classroom voting can be an effective way to stimulate student discussions. In this pedagogy, the instructor poses a multiple-choice question to the class, and then allows a few minutes for consideration and small-group discussion before students vote, either with clickers, cell phones, or a non-electronic method. After the vote the instructor…

29 CFR 452.64 - Write-in votes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Write-in votes. 452.64 Section 452.64 Labor Regulations... OF 1959 Nominations for Office § 452.64 Write-in votes. The Act neither requires nor prohibits write-in candidacy or write-in votes. These matters are governed by appropriate provisions of the union's...

Perspectives: Should Mandatory Voting Laws Be Implemented in the United States?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ornstein, Norman; Stoilov, Vassia

2011-01-01

Many countries around the world have compulsory voting laws. In the United States, where voter turnout tends to be lower than in other developed democracies, experts wonder whether voting laws would have a positive impact. In two distinct essays, voting and elections experts Norman Ornstein and Vassia Stoilov debate the implementation of…

78 FR 6289 - Estimates of the Voting Age Population for 2012

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-30

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Office of the Secretary Estimates of the Voting Age Population for 2012... estimates. SUMMARY: This notice announces the voting age population estimates as of July 1, 2012, for each... notice that the estimates of the voting age population for July 1, 2012, for each state and the District...

16 CFR 801.13 - Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... COVERAGE RULES § 801.13 Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. (a) Voting... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. 801.13 Section 801.13 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES...

16 CFR 801.13 - Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... COVERAGE RULES § 801.13 Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. (a) Voting... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. 801.13 Section 801.13 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES...

16 CFR 802.4 - Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers or non-corporate interests in unincorporated...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... § 802.4 Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers or non-corporate interests in unincorporated... voting securities or an unincorporated entity whose non-corporate interests are being acquired pursuant... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers...

16 CFR 802.4 - Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers or non-corporate interests in unincorporated...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... § 802.4 Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers or non-corporate interests in unincorporated... voting securities or an unincorporated entity whose non-corporate interests are being acquired pursuant... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers...

16 CFR 802.4 - Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers or non-corporate interests in unincorporated...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... § 802.4 Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers or non-corporate interests in unincorporated... voting securities or an unincorporated entity whose non-corporate interests are being acquired pursuant... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Acquisitions of voting securities of issuers...

16 CFR 801.13 - Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... COVERAGE RULES § 801.13 Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. (a) Voting... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. 801.13 Section 801.13 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES...

16 CFR 801.13 - Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... COVERAGE RULES § 801.13 Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. (a) Voting... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. 801.13 Section 801.13 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES...

16 CFR 801.13 - Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... COVERAGE RULES § 801.13 Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. (a) Voting... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, assets and non-corporate interests. 801.13 Section 801.13 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES...

12 CFR 708a.13 - Voting guidelines.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Voting guidelines. 708a.13 Section 708a.13... INSURED CREDIT UNIONS TO MUTUAL SAVINGS BANKS § 708a.13 Voting guidelines. A converting credit union must conduct its member vote on conversion in a fair and legal manner. NCUA provides the following guidelines...

28 CFR 51.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Voting Rights Act of 1965, 79 Stat. 437, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 82 Stat. 73, the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970, 84 Stat. 314, the District of Columbia Delegate Act, 84 Stat. 853, the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1975, 89 Stat. 400, the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, 96...

28 CFR 51.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED General Provisions § 51.1 Purpose. (a) Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act... section 4(b) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973b(b), of any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or...

28 CFR 51.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECTION 5 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED General Provisions § 51.1 Purpose. (a) Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act... section 4(b) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973b(b), of any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or...

The Legal Struggles to Gain Americans the Right To Vote.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amamoo, Samia J.

2000-01-01

Discusses the major milestones in the battle for voting rights focusing on the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Considers the future role of direct voting, specifically initiatives and referendums, and questions whether initiatives and referendums will encourage voter turnout. (CMK)

28 CFR 51.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Voting Rights Act of 1965, 79 Stat. 437, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 82 Stat. 73, the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970, 84 Stat. 314, the District of Columbia Delegate Act, 84 Stat. 853, the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1975, 89 Stat. 400, and the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982...

76 FR 1559 - Guidelines for the Use of Electronic Voting Systems in Union Officer Elections

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-11

... voting. Id. However, there are still concerns regarding on-line computer security, viruses and attacks... casting votes at polling sites; electronic voting from remote site personal computers via the Internet..., Washington, DC 20210. Because of security precautions, the Department continues to experience delays in U.S...

12 CFR 7.2022 - Voting trusts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Voting trusts. 7.2022 Section 7.2022 Banks and... Practices § 7.2022 Voting trusts. The shareholders of a national bank may establish a voting trust under the applicable law of a state selected by the participants and designated in the trust agreement, provided the...

Bribery or just desserts? Evidence on the influence of Congressional reproductive policy voting patterns on PAC contributions from exogenous variation in the sex mix of legislator offspring.

PubMed

Conley, Dalton; McCabe, Brian J

2012-01-01

Evidence on the relationship between political contributions and legislators' voting behavior is marred by concerns about endogeneity in the estimation process. Using a legislator's offspring sex mix as a truly exogenous variable, we employ an instrumental variable estimation procedure to predict the effect of voting behavior on political contributions. Following previous research, we find that a legislator's proportion daughters has a significant effect on voting behavior for women's issues, as measured by score in the "Congressional Record on Choice" issued by NARAL Pro-Choice America. In the second stage, we make a unique contribution by demonstrating a significant impact of exogenous voting behavior on PAC contributions, lending further credibility to the hypothesis that Political Action Committees respond to legislators' voting patterns by "rewarding" political candidates that vote in line with the positions of the PAC, rather than affecting those same votes - at least in this high-profile policy domain. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Practical and Secure Coercion-Resistant Scheme for Internet Voting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Araújo, Roberto; Foulle, Sébastien; Traoré, Jacques

Juels, Catalano, and Jakobsson (JCJ) proposed at WPES 2005 the first voting scheme that considers real-world threats and that is more realistic for Internet elections. Their scheme, though, has a quadratic work factor and thereby is not efficient for large scale elections. Based on the work of JCJ, Smith proposed an efficient scheme that has a linear work factor. In this paper we first show that Smith's scheme is insecure. Then we present a new coercion-resistant election scheme with a linear work factor that overcomes the flaw of Smith's proposal. Our solution is based on the group signature scheme of Camenisch and Lysyanskaya (Crypto 2004).

Extracorporeal treatment for barbiturate poisoning: recommendations from the EXTRIP Workgroup.

PubMed

Mactier, Robert; Laliberté, Martin; Mardini, Joelle; Ghannoum, Marc; Lavergne, Valery; Gosselin, Sophie; Hoffman, Robert S; Nolin, Thomas D

2014-09-01

The EXTRIP (Extracorporeal Treatments in Poisoning) Workgroup conducted a systematic review of barbiturate poisoning using a standardized evidence-based process to provide recommendations on the use of extracorporeal treatment (ECTR) in patients with barbiturate poisoning. The authors reviewed all articles, extracted data, summarized key findings, and proposed structured voting statements following a predetermined format. A 2-round modified Delphi method was used to reach a consensus on voting statements, and the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to quantify disagreement. 617 articles met the search inclusion criteria. Data for 538 patients were abstracted and evaluated. Only case reports, case series, and nonrandomized observational studies were identified, yielding a low quality of evidence for all recommendations. Using established criteria, the workgroup deemed that long-acting barbiturates are dialyzable and short-acting barbiturates are moderately dialyzable. Four key recommendations were made. (1) The use of ECTR should be restricted to cases of severe long-acting barbiturate poisoning. (2) The indications for ECTR in this setting are the presence of prolonged coma, respiratory depression necessitating mechanical ventilation, shock, persistent toxicity, or increasing or persistently elevated serum barbiturate concentrations despite treatment with multiple-dose activated charcoal. (3) Intermittent hemodialysis is the preferred mode of ECTR, and multiple-dose activated charcoal treatment should be continued during ECTR. (4) Cessation of ECTR is indicated when clinical improvement is apparent. This report provides detailed descriptions of the rationale for all recommendations. In summary, patients with long-acting barbiturate poisoning should be treated with ECTR provided at least one of the specific criteria in the first recommendation is present. Copyright © 2014 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extracorporeal Treatment in Phenytoin Poisoning: Systematic Review and Recommendations from the EXTRIP (Extracorporeal Treatments in Poisoning) Workgroup.

PubMed

Anseeuw, Kurt; Mowry, James B; Burdmann, Emmanuel A; Ghannoum, Marc; Hoffman, Robert S; Gosselin, Sophie; Lavergne, Valery; Nolin, Thomas D

2016-02-01

The Extracorporeal Treatments in Poisoning (EXTRIP) Workgroup conducted a systematic literature review using a standardized process to develop evidence-based recommendations on the use of extracorporeal treatment (ECTR) in patients with phenytoin poisoning. The authors reviewed all articles, extracted data, summarized findings, and proposed structured voting statements following a predetermined format. A 2-round modified Delphi method was used to reach a consensus on voting statements, and the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to quantify disagreement. 51 articles met the inclusion criteria. Only case reports, case series, and pharmacokinetic studies were identified, yielding a very low quality of evidence. Clinical data from 31 patients and toxicokinetic grading from 46 patients were abstracted. The workgroup concluded that phenytoin is moderately dialyzable (level of evidence = C) despite its high protein binding and made the following recommendations. ECTR would be reasonable in select cases of severe phenytoin poisoning (neutral recommendation, 3D). ECTR is suggested if prolonged coma is present or expected (graded 2D) and it would be reasonable if prolonged incapacitating ataxia is present or expected (graded 3D). If ECTR is used, it should be discontinued when clinical improvement is apparent (graded 1D). The preferred ECTR modality in phenytoin poisoning is intermittent hemodialysis (graded 1D), but hemoperfusion is an acceptable alternative if hemodialysis is not available (graded 1D). In summary, phenytoin appears to be amenable to extracorporeal removal. However, because of the low incidence of irreversible tissue injury or death related to phenytoin poisoning and the relatively limited effect of ECTR on phenytoin removal, the workgroup proposed the use of ECTR only in very select patients with severe phenytoin poisoning. Copyright © 2016 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modelling the risk-benefit impact of H1N1 influenza vaccines.

PubMed

Phillips, Lawrence D; Fasolo, Barbara; Zafiropoulous, Nikolaos; Eichler, Hans-Georg; Ehmann, Falk; Jekerle, Veronika; Kramarz, Piotr; Nicoll, Angus; Lönngren, Thomas

2013-08-01

Shortly after the H1N1 influenza virus reached pandemic status in June 2009, the benefit-risk project team at the European Medicines Agency recognized this presented a research opportunity for testing the usefulness of a decision analysis model in deliberations about approving vaccines soon based on limited data or waiting for more data. Undertaken purely as a research exercise, the model was not connected to the ongoing assessment by the European Medicines Agency, which approved the H1N1 vaccines on 25 September 2009. A decision tree model constructed initially on 1 September 2009, and slightly revised subsequently as new data were obtained, represented an end-of-September or end-of-October approval of vaccines. The model showed combinations of uncertain events, the severity of the disease and the vaccines' efficacy and safety, leading to estimates of numbers of deaths and serious disabilities. The group based their probability assessments on available information and background knowledge about vaccines and similar pandemics in the past. Weighting the numbers by their joint probabilities for all paths through the decision tree gave a weighted average for a September decision of 216 500 deaths and serious disabilities, and for a decision delayed to October of 291 547, showing that an early decision was preferable. The process of constructing the model facilitated communications among the group's members and led to new insights for several participants, while its robustness built confidence in the decision. These findings suggest that models might be helpful to regulators, as they form their preferences during the process of deliberation and debate, and more generally, for public health issues when decision makers face considerable uncertainty.

7 CFR 1230.621 - Voting period.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PORK PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND... term Voting period means the 3-consecutive business day period for in-person voting. Referendum ...

U.S. Senator's Ideal Points for Higher Education: Documenting Partisanship, 1965-2004

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doyle, William R.

2010-01-01

Congressional scholars have long analyzed legislative behavior by examining roll call votes. The study of roll call votes has rarely been extended to particular policy areas, with a few exceptions, such as abortion and environmental issues. This study examines roll call voting in the area of higher education policy. In examining voting patterns…

77 FR 54905 - Request for Substantive Comments on the EAC's Proposed Requirements for Version 1.1 of the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-06

... for Version 1.1 of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) AGENCY: United States Election... Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). SUMMARY: The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (Pub. L. 107... (EAC). Section 202 of HAVA directs the EAC to adopt voluntary voting system guidelines (VVSG) and to...

Quality monitored distributed voting system

DOEpatents

Skogmo, David

1997-01-01

A quality monitoring system can detect certain system faults and fraud attempts in a distributed voting system. The system uses decoy voters to cast predetermined check ballots. Absent check ballots can indicate system faults. Altered check ballots can indicate attempts at counterfeiting votes. The system can also cast check ballots at predetermined times to provide another check on the distributed voting system.

Joining Young, Voting Young: The Effects of Youth Voluntary Associations on Early Adult Voting. CIRCLE Working Paper #73

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Reuben J.; McFarland, Daniel A.

2010-01-01

Adolescent voluntary associations are particularly well positioned in the life course to encourage voting as youth become full citizens. Extracurriculars socialize students into voting by habituating them to civic engagement and by connecting them to politically engaged cultures. We establish this argument by testing the effects of high school…

Elections: DOD Needs More Comprehensive Planning to Address Military and Overseas Absentee Voting Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

Acknowledgments Contact Acknowledgments Related GAO Products Page 75 GAO-16-378 DOD Overseas Absentee Voting U.S. Postal Service: Actions... Products Page 76 GAO-16-378 DOD Overseas Absentee Voting Election Reform: Nine States’ Experiences Implementing Federal Requirements for...ELECTIONS DOD Needs More Comprehensive Planning to Address Military and Overseas Absentee Voting Challenges

16 CFR 801.10 - Value of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets to be acquired.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Value of voting securities, non-corporate... ACT OF 1976 COVERAGE RULES § 801.10 Value of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets to... value of all consideration for such voting securities, non-corporate interests or assets to be acquired...

16 CFR 801.15 - Aggregation of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets the acquisition of which was...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... of determining the aggregate total amount of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets of...-corporate interests or voting securities the acquisition of which was exempt at the time of acquisition (or... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, non...

16 CFR 801.10 - Value of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets to be acquired.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Value of voting securities, non-corporate... ACT OF 1976 COVERAGE RULES § 801.10 Value of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets to... value of all consideration for such voting securities, non-corporate interests or assets to be acquired...

16 CFR 801.15 - Aggregation of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets the acquisition of which was...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... of determining the aggregate total amount of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets of...-corporate interests or voting securities the acquisition of which was exempt at the time of acquisition (or... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, non...

16 CFR 801.10 - Value of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets to be acquired.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Value of voting securities, non-corporate... ACT OF 1976 COVERAGE RULES § 801.10 Value of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets to... value of all consideration for such voting securities, non-corporate interests or assets to be acquired...

16 CFR 801.15 - Aggregation of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets the acquisition of which was...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... of determining the aggregate total amount of voting securities, non-corporate interests and assets of...-corporate interests or voting securities the acquisition of which was exempt at the time of acquisition (or... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Aggregation of voting securities, non...

29 CFR 452.86 - Vote conditioned on payment of dues.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... where a member is laid off but desires to maintain his good standing and thus his membership rights by... AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959 Right To Vote § 452.86 Vote conditioned on payment of dues. A labor organization may condition the exercise of the right to vote upon the payment of dues, which is a basic...

76 FR 54110 - Attorney General's Guidelines on Implementation of the Provisions of the Voting Rights Act...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-31

... General's Guidelines on Implementation of the Provisions of the Voting Rights Act Regarding Language... the Voting Rights Act, which require certain states and political subdivisions to conduct elections in... language requirements in sections 4(f)(4) and 203 of the Voting Rights Act. The rule also amends the...