Filling the Organ Donor Pool by Giving Priority

Context: Many of the alternatives for procuring donor organs are considered either ineffective, unethical, or illegal. One possibility that may not face such challenges is a priority system whereby individuals who register as an organ donor are given priority to receive an organ over those who have not registered. However, providing extrinsic rewards can sometimes paradoxically reduce the target behavior, especially for those who are more altruistically motivated. Methods: Two behavioral experiments were employed and data were analyzed using regressions as well as examining open-ended responses. Findings: The results suggest that giving priority to receive an organ to those who register to donate postmortem could increase overall registration rates. Further, the effect of providing priority appears to work by inducing anticipated regret, which can be used to overcome common obstacles to registration. Finally, it was found that a priority system is most effective in increasing donor rates for those individuals who are less altruistically motivated and does not reduce registration rates for those who are more altruistically motivated. Conclusions: Given the unabated shortage of transplant organs, the finding that a priority system could increase the willingness to register as a donor without crowding out altruistically motivated individuals is highly encouraging

Leave was always in the lead: why the polls got the referendum result wrong

By analysing 121 opinion polls, Harold D. Clarke, Matthew Goodwin, and Paul Whiteley outline what happened with the EU referendum survey results. They explain why internet surveys performed substantially better than telephone ones – contrary to the post-2015 General Election ‘wisdom’ that telephone surveys should be preferred. Underlying trends showed that once methodological artefacts are controlled, Leave was almost certainly ahead of Remain over the entire last month of the campaign – and possibly throughout 2016

Was this a Brexit election after all? Tracking party support among Leave and Remain voters

How do Leave and Remain votes map on to the results of the General Election? Paul Whiteley, Harold Clarke and Matthew Goodwin (left to right) look at what happened to party support on a constituency level. They find Labour seats that voted heavily to Leave either stuck with Jeremy Corbyn’s party or shifted their support from Ukip to Labour. The Conservatives benefited too as voters abandoned Ukip. Ultimately the Brexit effect helped them much more than it harmed Labour. They also conclude that youth and education are currently on Labour’s side

Why Britain voted to leave (and what Boris Johnson had to do with it)

Some Leavers claim the referendum result was not primarily about immigration, but anxiety about Britain’s perceived loss of sovereignty to the EU. In their new book, Harold D. Clarke, Matthew Goodwin (left) and Paul Whiteley draw on data about more than 150,000 voters to analyse the factors and concerns that led people to vote Leave. The mix of calculations, emotions and cues were complex, but immigration – and the personal appeal of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson to different groups of voters – were key

Estimating the evolution of flood risk to coastal populations

The long term evolution of flood risk in a coastal area due to (a) Sea level rise and (b) Population rise is assessed. Historic maps and population data are used to estimate the spatial distribution of the coastal population through time, and extrapolated sea levels are used as a boundary condition in a hydrodynamic flood model to estimate the historic flood exten

Discrimination of prostate cancer cells and non-malignant cells using secondary ion mass spectrometry

This communication utilises Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) combined with multivariate analysis to obtain spectra from the surfaces of three closely related cell lines allowing their discrimination based upon mass spectral ions