Voting as a Rational Choice: Why and How People Vote to Improve the Well-Being of Others

For voters with "social" preferences, the expected utility of voting is approximately independent of the size of the electorate, suggesting that rational voter turnouts can be substantial even in large elections. Less important elections are predicted to have lower turnout, but a feedback mechanism keeps turnout at a reasonable level under a wide range of conditions. The main contributions of this paper are: (1) to show how, for an individual with both selfish and social preferences, the social preferences will dominate and make it rational for a typical person to vote even in large elections;(2) to show that rational socially-motivated voting has a feedback mechanism that stabilizes turnout at reasonable levels (e.g., 50% of the electorate); (3) to link the rational social-utility model of voter turnout with survey findings on socially-motivated vote choice.

SmartHub: A Manual Wheelchair Activity Tracking Device for Patients and Clinicians

In America, nearly 1.5 million people use manual wheelchairs in their day-to-day lives. These users are typically paralyzed from the waist down after experiencing a spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke (CVA), or diagnosed with cerebral palsy. These patients are fit for manual wheelchairs because their upper extremities are healthy and fully functional. However, the repeated strain of soft tissue in the shoulder and wrist joints from movement in a manual wheelchair leaves these patients highly susceptible to upper extremity injury. Nearly 70% of all manual wheelchair users will develop some form of upper extremity injury eventually leading to increase health costs and discomfort. These injuries can be mitigated by improving sub-optimal biomechanics of wheelchair propulsion. Metrics such as stroke frequency, velocity, stroke force, and stroke distance provide key insights to determine the root cause of these injuries. SmartWheel is a current legacy product used within assistive technology clinics for collecting and analyzing propulsion metrics. However, due to several factors, the SmartWheel is restricted to clinical settings, leaving data collection to simple tests. This collected data does not form a complete picture of how a patient is using their wheelchair since it is not able to capture a patient's day-to-day metrics. SmartHub is a concept medical device that aims to serve the capability gaps of the SmartWheel by tracking propulsion metrics inside and outside of the clinic. SmartHub has seen contributions from an Assistive Device Capstone group, and two previous master students creating SmartHub I and II respectively. The goal of SmartHub III is to optimize the internal component layout and existing data collection software to create an unobtrusive form factor. SmartHub III effectively decreased the device width by 30% while improving the overall device experience, moving the device a step closer to its market-ready state.A three-year embargo was granted for this item.Academic Major: Mechanical Engineerin

Helminth Infection is Associated with Dampened Cytokine Responses to Viral and Bacterial Stimulations in Tsimane Forager-Horticulturalists

Background Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) and humans share long co-evolutionary histories over which STHs have evolved strategies to permit their persistence by downregulating host immunity. Understanding the interactions between STHs and other pathogens can inform our understanding of human evolution and contemporary disease patterns. Methodology We worked with Tsimane forager-horticulturalists in the Bolivian Amazon, where STHs are prevalent. We tested whether STHs and eosinophil levels—likely indicative of infection in this population—are associated with dampened immune responses to in vitro stimulation with H1N1 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigens. Whole blood samples (n = 179) were treated with H1N1 vaccine and LPS and assayed for 13 cytokines (INF-γ, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, GM-CSF and TNF-ɑ). We evaluated how STHs and eosinophil levels affected cytokine responses and T helper (Th) 1 and Th2-cytokine suite responses to stimulation. Results Infection with Ascaris lumbricoides was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with lower response of some cytokines to H1N1 and LPS in women. Eosinophils were significantly negatively associated with some cytokine responses to H1N1 and LPS, with the strongest effects in women, and associated with a reduced Th1- and Th2-cytokine response to H1N1 and LPS in women and men. Conclusions and implications Consistent with the ‘old friends’ and hygiene hypotheses, we find that STHs were associated with dampened cytokine responses to certain viral and bacterial antigens. This suggests that STH infections may play an essential role in immune response regulation and that the lack of STH immune priming in industrialized populations may increase the risk of over-reactive immunity. Lay Summary: Indicators of helminth infection were associated with dampened cytokine immune responses to in vitro stimulation with viral and bacterial antigens in Tsimane forager-horticulturalists in the Bolivian Amazon, consistent with the ‘old friends’ and hygiene hypotheses

Cancer Incidence in World Trade Center Rescue and Recovery Workers, 2001–2008

Background: World Trade Center (WTC) rescue and recovery workers were exposed to a complex mix of pollutants and carcinogens. Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate cancer incidence in responders during the first 7 years after 11 September 2001. Methods: Cancers among 20,984 consented participants in the WTC Health Program were identified through linkage to state tumor registries in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated to compare cancers diagnosed in responders to predicted numbers for the general population. Multivariate regression models were used to estimate associations with degree of exposure. Results: A total of 575 cancers were diagnosed in 552 individuals. Increases above registry-based expectations were noted for all cancer sites combined (SIR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.25), thyroid cancer (SIR = 2.39; 95% CI: 1.70, 3.27), prostate cancer (SIR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.44), combined hematopoietic and lymphoid cancers (SIR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.71), and soft tissue cancers (SIR = 2.26; 95% CI: 1.13, 4.05). When restricted to 302 cancers diagnosed ≥ 6 months after enrollment, the SIR for all cancers decreased to 1.06 (95% CI: 0.94, 1.18), but thyroid and prostate cancer diagnoses remained greater than expected. All cancers combined were increased in very highly exposed responders and among those exposed to significant amounts of dust, compared with responders who reported lower levels of exposure. Conclusion: Estimates should be interpreted with caution given the short follow-up and long latency period for most cancers, the intensive medical surveillance of this cohort, and the small numbers of cancers at specific sites. However, our findings highlight the need for continued follow-up and surveillance of WTC responders

Yorba Times: Standing Up, Speaking Out

During the Spring 2018 semester, Dr. Noah Asher Golden\u27s Teaching of Writing K-12 students partnered with the Journalism class at Yorba Academy for the Arts. Through collaboration over a four-month period, Chapman\u27s future teachers and Yorba\u27s junior high journalists engaged a deep writing process to write a series of features, editorials, and news articles related to a number of global issues. Thank you to Ms. Andrea Lopez, Ms. Kori Shelton, Mr. Nick Sepulveda, Ms. Tracy Knibb, and the Lloyd E. and Elisabeth H. Klein Family Foundation for supporting this project.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/yorba-chapman/1003/thumbnail.jp

Reproductive health and lifestyle factors associated with health-related quality of life among perinatally HIV-infected adolescents in Uganda

Background With increased survival of perinatally HIV - infected adolescents due to antiretroviral therapy (ART), the focus of HIV care has shifted to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as a measure of disease progression, effects of ART co-morbidity and prognosis. We assessed factors associated with better HRQoL in perinatally HIV -infected adolescents in Uganda by determining the associations between sexual and reproductive health (SRH) or lifestyle experiences on HRQoL. Methods In a cross-sectional study, data on SRH, lifestyle experiences, socio demographic factors, communication with parents on sexuality and satisfaction of SRH services in ART clinics were collected from 614 HIV perinatally infected adolescents aged 10–19 using an interviewer-administered survey questionnaire. HRQoL data were collected using the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey instrument (MOS-HIV). Factors associated with better HRQoL were analysed using multiple logistic regression. Results The mean age was 16.2 ± 2.1 years, 362 (58.8 %) were females and 210 (34.2 %) were sexually active. Adolescents on ART were twice likely to present with better physical health (AOR = 2.07, 95 % CI: 1.24–3.46) and four times more likely to present with better mental health (AOR = 3.9, 95 % CI: 2.22–6.92) than those who were not on ART. There were no statistically significant associations between SRH (ever had sex, ever been pregnant, condom use, contraceptive use) or life style factors and physical health or mental health. Those with secondary or tertiary education were more likely to present with a better mental health (AOR = 5.3, 95 % CI: 1.86–15.41) compared those who had attained primary or no education. Participants who desired to have a child in future more likely (AOR 1.7, 95 % CI: 1.05–3.00) to present with a better mental health. Lack of communication with guardians on sexuality (AOR = 0.6, 95 % CI: 0.40–0.89), or dissatisfaction with SRH services (AOR 0.34, 95 % CI: 0.18–0.62) were associated with poorer mental health. Conclusion Among perinatally HIV-infected adolescents in Uganda, being on ART was associated with better physical and mental health while lack of communication with guardians on sexuality or dissatisfaction with SRH services was associated with poor mental health. Adolescents with pregnancy intentions were more likely to have a better mental health

Forest Through Forest

This music score was submitted for the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library

Out of the Hole

The form of this essay is non-linear. The little circles that break up the text indicate “in the meantime,” signaling shifts of consciousness. Ideas are united by a logic that coheres when perceived as a whole. In this way, I have taken what could be called a Gestalt approach to structure. As a composer and improvisor, this is something that I have been exploring in music as well, where the meaning of an idea or a theme is informed by what came before it and what follows, and from the totality of the work. This approach was inspired partly by David Markson’s novel of fragments, "Reader’s Block," by Nabokov’s experimentation with narrative, and, more loosely, by pianist Cecil Taylor’s technique for improvisation, “Unit Structures.” As a conclusion, I propose a theory of art-making, justified, hopefully, by the text that has preceded it