Election proximity and representation focus in party-constrained environments

Do elected representatives have a time-constant representation focus or do they adapt their focus depending on election proximity? In this article, we examine these overlooked theoretical and empirical puzzles by looking at how reelection-seeking actors adapt their legislative behavior according to the electoral cycle. In parliamentary democracies, representatives need to serve two competing principals: their party and their district. Our analysis hinges on how representatives make a strategic use of parliamentary written questions in a highly party-constrained institutional context to heighten their reselection and reelection prospects. Using an original data set of over 32,000 parliamentary questions tabled by Portuguese representatives from 2005 to 2015, we examine how time interacts with two key explanatory elements: electoral vulnerability and party size. Results show that representation focus is not static over time and, in addition, that electoral vulnerability and party size shape strategic use of parliamentary questions

KIDMAP, a web based system for gathering patients' feedback on their doctors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The gathering of feedback on doctors from patients after consultations is an important part of patient involvement and participation. This study first assesses the 23-item Patient Feedback Questionnaire (PFQ) designed by the Picker Institute, Europe, to determine whether these items form a single latent trait. Then, an Internet module with visual representation is developed to gather patient views about their doctors; this program then distributes the individualized results by email.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 450 patients were randomly recruited from a 1300-bed-size medical center in Taiwan. The Rasch rating scale model was used to examine the data-fit. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis was conducted to verify construct equivalence across the groups. An Internet module with visual representation was developed to provide doctors with the patient's online feedback.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-one of the 23 items met the model's expectation, namely that they constitute a single construct. The test reliability was 0.94. DIF was found between ages and different kinds of disease, but not between genders and education levels. The visual approach of the KIDMAP module on the WWW seemed to be an effective approach to the assessment of patient feedback in a clinical setting.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The revised 21-item PFQ measures a single construct. Our work supports the hypothesis that the revised PFQ online version is both valid and reliable, and that the KIDMAP module is good at its designated task. Further research is needed to confirm data congruence for patients with chronic diseases.</p

Population genomics of marine zooplankton

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bucklin, Ann et al. "Population Genomics of Marine Zooplankton." Population Genomics: Marine Organisms. Ed. Om P. Rajora and Marjorie Oleksiak. Springer, 2018. doi:10.1007/13836_2017_9.The exceptionally large population size and cosmopolitan biogeographic distribution that distinguish many – but not all – marine zooplankton species generate similarly exceptional patterns of population genetic and genomic diversity and structure. The phylogenetic diversity of zooplankton has slowed the application of population genomic approaches, due to lack of genomic resources for closelyrelated species and diversity of genomic architecture, including highly-replicated genomes of many crustaceans. Use of numerous genomic markers, especially single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), is transforming our ability to analyze population genetics and connectivity of marine zooplankton, and providing new understanding and different answers than earlier analyses, which typically used mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite markers. Population genomic approaches have confirmed that, despite high dispersal potential, many zooplankton species exhibit genetic structuring among geographic populations, especially at large ocean-basin scales, and have revealed patterns and pathways of population connectivity that do not always track ocean circulation. Genomic and transcriptomic resources are critically needed to allow further examination of micro-evolution and local adaptation, including identification of genes that show evidence of selection. These new tools will also enable further examination of the significance of small-scale genetic heterogeneity of marine zooplankton, to discriminate genetic “noise” in large and patchy populations from local adaptation to environmental conditions and change.Support was provided by the US National Science Foundation to AB and RJO (PLR-1044982) and to RJO (MCB-1613856); support to IS and MC was provided by Nord University (Norway)

Parliaments and Government Formation: Unpacking Investiture Rules

Under parliamentarism, the executive, typically termed ?the government?, comes from, and remains responsible to, the national parliament. Although government formation has long been recognized as a core function of national parliaments, and despite the prevalence of comparative scholarship on the politics of government formation, surprisingly little research has explored the precise role of parliament in the process of government formation. For instance, exactly what does ?come from? parliament mean in the context of government formation under parliamentarism? The focus of this book is on the parliamentary investiture vote. Investiture consists of a vote in parliament to demonstrate that an already formed or about to be formed government has legislative support. To better understand the degree to which parliamentary rules and procedures impact government formation, the book ?unpacks? the investiture procedure by identifying and categorizing the great variation in investiture rules in various parliaments and examine how investiture procedures operate in practice. The sixteen case studies are complemented with two cross-national chapters. The case studies and quantitative evidence suggest that scholars of comparative politics need to pay greater attention to the more nuanced details of institutional design. Broad institutional design matters, but the details of institutional design may matter even more

Government Selection and Executive Powers: Constitutional Design in Parliamentary Democracies

Provisions for a parliamentary investiture vote have become increasingly common in parliamentary democracies. This article shows that investiture provisions were largely introduced when new constitutions were written or old ones fundamentally redesigned. It also shows that the constitutions that endowed executives with strong legislative agenda powers also endowed parliaments with strong mechanisms to select the executive. It is argued that constitution makers? decisions can be seen in principal?agent terms: strong investiture rules constitute an ex ante mechanism of parliamentary control ? that is, a mechanism to minimise adverse selection and reduce the risk of agency loss by parliament. The findings have two broad implications: from a constitutional point of view, parliamentary systems do not rely exclusively on ex post control mechanisms such as the no confidence vote to minimise agency loss; parliamentarism, at least today and as much as presidentialism, is the product of conscious constitutional design and not evolutionary adaptation