Partisanship and Voter Confidence, 2000-2012

To what degree is voter confidence in election procedures driven by satisfaction with the outcome of an election, as opposed to trust in government or objective features of the polling place, such as voting technology? Using approximately 30 national surveys over the past decade, we find a consistent relationship between voting for the winner and confidence in election administration. This confidence varies as a function of question wording and electoral context. Respondents are more confident in the quality of the vote count locally than nationally. They are responsive to electoral results at the state and national levels in forming their judgements. And, rather than being influenced by different types of voting technology, respondents lose confidence by virtue of change itself

Voting Technology: Vote-by-Mail, and Residual Votes in California, 1990-2010

To test the supposition that the lost votes recovered by California through the modernization of voting technologies may be being undone by the trend toward more voting by mail, Table A1 attempts to quantify changes in the residual vote rate in each county from the presidential elections of 1992 to 2008 due to changes in voting technologies, and due to the growth in voting by mail. The table starts by reporting turnout in the 1992 and 2008 presidential elections; the percentage of ballots cast by mail in 1992 and 2008, along with the change across the two years; the type of voting equipment used in 1992 and 2008; and the estimated change in the residual vote rate from 1992 and 2008 based on changes in voting technology, using the coefficients from Table 4 in the text. It then calculates the estimated number of votes represented by this coefficient by multiplying it by turnout for 2008. Negative values indicate an estimated reduction in the residual vote in 2008 due to technology changes since 1992. For instance, for Alameda County, we estimate that the change from punch cards in 1992 to precinct-count optical scanning in 2008 resulted in a reduction in the number of residual votes in 2008 by 5,343 (≈ -0.85% × 628,545)

30 Years of Cystocele/Rectocele Repair in the United States

Objective: A growing body of evidence suggests an increased role for apical support in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse regardless of phenotype. The objective of this study was to determine whether changes in cystocele/rectocele diagnosis and surgical management for the last 30 years reflect this changing paradigm. Methods: Data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey were mined from 1979 to 2009 for diagnosis and procedure codes. Records were categorized according to predefined combinations of diagnosis and procedure codes and weighted according to the National Hospital Discharge Survey data set. Pearson [chi]2 test was used to evaluate the changes in population proportions during the study interval. Results: The proportion of isolated cystocele/rectocele diagnoses decreased from 1979 to 2009 (56.5%, n = 88,548, to 34.8%, n = 31,577). The proportion of isolated apical defect diagnoses increased from 1979 to 2009 (38.4%, n = 60,223, to 60.8%, n = 55,153). There was a decrease in the frequency of isolated cystocele/rectocele repair procedures performed from 1979 to 2009 (96.3%, n = 150,980, to 67.7%, n = 61,444), whereas there was an increase in isolated apical defect repair procedures (2.5%, n = 3929, to 22.5%, n = 20,450). The proportion of cystocele/rectocele plus apical defect procedures also increased (1.2%, n = 1879, to 9.7%, n = 8806). Furthermore, 87.0% of all studied diagnostic groups were managed by cystocele/rectocele repair alone. Conclusions: Surgeons have responded to the increased contribution of apical support defects to cystocele/rectocele by modifying their diagnostic coding practices. Unfortunately, their surgical choices remain largely rooted in an older paradigm

Studying Elections: Data Quality and Pitfalls in Measuring the Effects of Voting Technologies

Professor Geralyn Miller reminds us of the range of voting administration practices across the United States. We use this variability to study the average performance of various types of voting equipment throughout the country (Ansolabehere and Stewart n.d.). Professor Miller suggests that the performance of equipment is, in fact, quite variable across states. Aparticular technology that performs poorly nationwide might perform well in a particular setting—either because the technology is well suited to the peculiarities of the setting or because a locality has been proficient in overcoming shortcomings that vex other jurisdictions. In making this point, Professor Miller examines two states, Wyoming and Pennsylvania, in the 2000 election

Conformations of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands in Ruthenium Complexes Relevant to Olefin Metathesis

The structure of ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalyst 3 and model π-complex 5 in solution and in the solid state are reported. The N-tolyl ligands, due to their lower symmetry than the traditional N-mesityl substituents, complicate this analysis, but ultimately provide explanation for the enhanced reactivity of 3 relative to standard catalyst 2. The tilt of the N-tolyl ring provides additional space near the ruthenium center, which is consistent with the enhanced reactivity of 3 toward sterically demanding substrates. Due to this tilt, the more sterically accessible face bears the two methyl substituents of the N-aryl rings. These experimental studies are supported by computational studies of these complexes by DFT. The experimental data provides a means to validate the accuracy of the B3LYP and M06 functionals. B3LYP provides geometries that match X-ray crystal structural data more closely, though it leads to slightly less (0.5 kcal mol^(−1)) accuracy than M06 most likely because it underestimates attractive noncovalent interactions

Utility of PAX8 and PAX2 immunohistochemistry in the identification of renal cell carcinoma in diagnostic cytology

The diagnosis of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in cytology specimens may be difficult to confirm on the basis of cytomorphology alone. Often, immunohistochemistry serves as an important adjunct in confirming this diagnosis. Recently, PAX2 was shown to be useful in this regard. In this study, we sought to compare the utility of PAX8 to that of PAX2 immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of RCC in cytology specimens. First, we verified the performance of PAX8 immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray (TMA) composed of 54 cases of RCC; PAX8 immunoreactivity was seen in at least 10% of the tumor cells in all cases. Next, we applied PAX8 immunohistochemistry to cell block sections prepared from 24 cases of RCC, obtained from fine‐needle aspirates and effusion specimens. PAX2 immunohistochemistry was performed for comparison. Immunopositivity was defined as the presence of nuclear staining in at least 10% of tumor cell nuclei. Immunoreactivity for PAX8 and PAX2 was seen in 21 (88%) and 20 (83%) of the 24 cases, respectively. The presence of either PAX8 or PAX2 immunostaining was present in 22 of 24 cases, thus showing a total sensitivity of 92%. Overall, the results indicate that PAX8 and PAX2 are diagnostically useful adjuncts in confirming the diagnosis of RCC in cytology specimens. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2012. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92391/1/21590_ftp.pd

Voting Technology and the Election Experience: The 2009 Gubernatorial Races in New Jersey and Virginia

In this paper, we examine the attitudes of voters regarding the voting experience in the 2009 gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. We focus especially on the way in which voting technology experiences that voters have had affect their confidence in the voting process, their attitudes toward fraud and reform, and other aspects of the voting process. We find that voters are sensitive to the voting mode they use—in person voting compared to absentee voting—as well as to whether they get to vote on the technology they prefer (paper versus electronic). Finally, the privacy that voters feel in the voting process is also important in shaping the voter’s confidence

Reflections on the VTP's contributions to science, policymaking and education

In the immediate wake of the 2000 presidential election, the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project was initiated. The initial and primary concern of the VTP at that moment was to understand the problems that arose in the 2000 American presidential election, in particular with regards to voting technologies, and to develop scientifically-based proposals for reforms and perhaps even to propose new voting technologies. In the past decade, the VTP has moved from that original focus to become an internationally-renown group of researchers who now focus on a broad array of election administration issues