Mean Field Voter Model of Election to the House of Representatives in Japan

In this study, we propose a mechanical model of a plurality election based on a mean field voter model. We assume that there are three candidates in each electoral district, i.e., one from the ruling party, one from the main opposition party, and one from other political parties. The voters are classified as fixed supporters and herding (floating) voters with ratios of $1-p$ and $p$, respectively. Fixed supporters make decisions based on their information and herding voters make the same choice as another randomly selected voter. The equilibrium vote-share probability density of herding voters follows a Dirichlet distribution. We estimate the composition of fixed supporters in each electoral district and $p$ using data from elections to the House of Representatives in Japan (43rd to 47th). The spatial inhomogeneity of fixed supporters explains the long-range spatial and temporal correlations. The estimated values of $p$ are close to the estimates obtained from a survey.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Evidence for an Association Between Hearing Impairment and Disrupted Sleep: Scoping Review

Purpose: Hearing impairment (HI) is the most common sensory impairment and may negatively impact sleep through reduced auditory input. Factors associated with HI, such as anxiety regarding communication in daily life, may also adversely impact an individual’s sleep. Here, research on the relationship between HI and sleep disruption was catalogued using scoping review methodology. Methods: A systematic strategy was employed to search various electronic databases. This review is reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Scoping Review Extension (PRISMA-ScR). Results: Sixteen records met inclusion criteria. Studies have investigated sleep in HI as a primary aim in noise exposed workers or large surveys in older participants. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies report alterations to sleep architecture of potential neuroplastic origins. Studies reporting sleep as a secondary aim generally report poorer in sleep in HI participants. Conclusions: This scoping review has catalogued evidence that altered or negatively impacted sleep may be associated with HI. Potential confounding factors, mechanisms, and considerations for future research are discussed

Comparison of high versus low frequency cerebral physiology for cerebrovascular reactivity assessment in traumatic brain injury: a multi-center pilot study

Current accepted cerebrovascular reactivity indices suffer from the need of high frequency data capture and export for post-acquisition processing. The role for minute-by-minute data in cerebrovascular reactivity monitoring remains uncertain. The goal was to explore the statistical time-series relationships between intra-cranial pressure (ICP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pressure reactivity index (PRx) using both 10-s and minute data update frequency in TBI. Prospective data from 31 patients from 3 centers with moderate/severe TBI and high-frequency archived physiology were reviewed. Both 10-s by 10-s and minute-by-minute mean values were derived for ICP and MAP for each patient. Similarly, PRx was derived using 30 consecutive 10-s data points, updated every minute. While long-PRx (L-PRx) was derived via similar methodology using minute-by-minute data, with L-PRx derived using various window lengths (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 min; denoted L-PRx_5, etc.). Time-series autoregressive integrative moving average (ARIMA) and vector autoregressive integrative moving average (VARIMA) models were created to analyze the relationship of these parameters over time. ARIMA modelling, Granger causality testing and VARIMA impulse response function (IRF) plotting demonstrated that similar information is carried in minute mean ICP and MAP data, compared to 10-s mean slow-wave ICP and MAP data. Shorter window L-PRx variants, such as L-PRx_5, appear to have a similar ARIMA structure, have a linear association with PRx and display moderate-to-strong correlations (r ~ 0.700, p Peer reviewe