Redrawing electoral maps to curb gerrymandering: a case study of New York State in 2022

[EN] The delineation of electoral district boundaries is a fundamental component of democratic practice in the United States. However, gerrymandering—the manipulation of district boundaries to favor specific interest groups—undermines this process and often leads to contentious debates and legal battles. The primary objective of this study is to quantitatively evaluate four sets of New York State’s 2022 congressional district maps for signs of gerrymandering. These maps were proposed by the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC), the State Legislature, and the State Court, respectively. The quantitative metrics employed integrate factors such as population distribution, state boundaries, and spatial topology to assess district compactness and to identify gerrymandering. The results indicate that the Court-drawn congressional districts exhibit considerably lower levels of gerrymandering than the maps proposed by the IRC and the State Legislature, which exhibit little disparity. As the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that addressing partisan gerrymandering falls within the jurisdiction of the state, the findings of this study suggest that appointing special map masters by the State Court and reducing or eliminating the influence of political parties in redistricting could generate fairer electoral maps that promote equitable representation of the state's populace.Sun, S. (2023). Redrawing electoral maps to curb gerrymandering: a case study of New York State in 2022. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 47-54. https://doi.org/10.4995/CARMA2023.2023.16481475

Fabrication of Nanofiltration Hollow Fiber Membranes for Sustainable Pharmaceutical Manufacture

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Prevalence of human herpesvirus 8 infection in systemic lupus erythematosus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For decades, scientists have tried to understand the environmental factors involved in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in which viral infections was included. Previous studies have identified Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to incite SLE. Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), another member of the gammaherpesvirus family, shares a lot in common with EBV. The characteristics of HHV-8 make it a well-suited candidate to trigger SLE.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, serum samples from patients (n = 108) with diagnosed SLE and matched controls (n = 122) were collected, and the prevalence of HHV-8 was compared by a virus-specific nested PCR and a whole virus enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA). There was significant difference in the prevalence of HHV-8 DNA between SLE patients and healthy controls (11 of 107 vs 1 of 122, <it>p </it>= 0.001); significant difference was also found in the detection of HHV-8 antibodies (19 of 107 vs 2 of 122, <it>p </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>We also detected the antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus viral capsid antigen (EBV-VCA) and Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1). Both patients and controls showed high seroprevalence with no significant difference (106 of 107 vs 119 of 122, <it>p </it>= 0.625).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our finding indicated that there might be an association between HHV-8 and the development of SLE.</p

meso-5,5′-Bis[(4-fluoro­phen­yl)diazen­yl]-2,2′-(pentane-3,3-di­yl)di-1H-pyrrole

There are two independent molecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C25H24F2N6, in which the N=N bonds adopt a trans configuration with distances in the range 1.262 (2)–1.269 (3) Å. The dihedral angles between heterocycles are 86.7 (2) and 85.6 (2)° in the two molecules while the dihedral angles between the heterocylic rings and the adjacent benzene rings are 13.4 (2) and 13.4 (2)° in one molecule and 5.3 (2) and 6.5 (2)° in the other. In the crystal, pairs of independent mol­ecules are held together by four N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming inter­locked dimers

How Phantom Networks, Provider Qualities, and Poverty Sway Medicaid Dental Care Access: A Geospatial Analysis of Manhattan

Access to general dental care is essential for preventing and treating oral diseases. To ensure adequate spatial accessibility for the most vulnerable populations, New York State mandates a ratio of one general dentist to 2000 Medicaid recipients within 30 min of public transportation. This study employed geospatial methods to determine whether the requirement is met in Manhattan by verifying the online directories of ten New York managed care organizations (MCOs), which collectively presented 868 available dentists from 259 facilities. Our survey of 118 dental facilities representing 509 dentists revealed that significantly fewer dentists are available to treat Medicaid recipients compared to MCO directories. The average dentist-to-patient ratio derived from the MCO listings by the Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) method was 1:315, while the average verified ratio was only 1:1927. “Phantom networks”, or inaccurate provider listings, substantially overstated Medicaid dental accessibility. Surprisingly, our study also discovered additional Medicaid providers unlisted in any MCO directory, which we coined “hidden networks”. However, their inclusion was inconsequential to the overall dental supply. We further scrutinized dental care access by uniquely applying six “patient-centered characteristics”, and these criteria vastly reduced accessibility to an average ratio of merely 1:4587. Our novel evaluation of the spatial association between poverty, dental care access, and phantom networks suggests that Medicaid dental providers wish to be located in wealthier census tracts that are in proximity to impoverished areas for maximum profitability. Additionally, we discovered that poverty and phantom networks were positively correlated, and phantom providers masked a lack of dental care access for Medicaid recipients

Determination of selected physical and mechanical properties of Chinese jujube fruit and seed

Some of physical characteristics and mechanical properties of two widely commercialized varieties of Chinese jujube (Zizyphus jujube cv. junzao and Zizyphus jujube cv. huizao) were studied at 62.2% and 35.4% w.b. for fruits and seeds of junzao and 70.3% and 25.2% w.b. for fruits and seeds of huizao. The results showed that fruits and seeds of junzao were larger in all the dimensions and heavier than that of huizao while the fruits of junzao were smaller in true density, bulk density and porosity than that of huizao. The aspect ratio and sphericity of both cultivars fruits were spherical and more likely to roll than slide. And all the physical parameters measured and calculated of both cultivars fruits and seeds were significant different to each other. The rupture force of junzao was higher than that of huizao at both orientations under compression. Greater rupture force and higher hardness were found at the horizontal orientation of both cultivars

Development of a new duplex real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for hepatitis B viral DNA detection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Quantification of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA can be used for diagnosing HBV infection and monitoring the effect of antiviral therapy. However, probably because of mismatches between the template and primer/probe, HBV DNA in some HBV infections could not be detected using currently available commercial assays with single primer/probe. By aligning the HBV sequences, we developed a duplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using two sets of primers/probes and a specific armored DNA as internal control (IC).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The limit of the duplex real-time PCR assay was 29.5 IU/ml, whereas the specificity was 100%. The within-run precision coefficient of variation (CV) ranged from 1.02% to 2.73%, while the between-run CV ranged from 0.83% to 1.25%. The optimal concentration of armored DNA IC in the HBV DNA duplex real-time PCR assay was 1 000 copies/ml. Data from 69 serum samples with HBV infection showed that the performance of the duplex real-time PCR assay was comparable to that of the COBAS Ampliprep/Cobas Taqman (CAP/CTM) HBV assay and was superior to those of the domestic commercial HBV assays.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The duplex real-time PCR assay is sufficiently sensitive, specific, accurate, reproducible and cost-effective for the detection of HBV DNA. It is suitable for high throughput screening and frequent HBV DNA level monitoring.</p