Electronic Voting Worldwide: The State of the Art

Background: Public participation is a key component in the process of urban planning, helping to formulate problems and requirements, and, eventually, cooperate in the final solution. The new visualization and immersion possibilities offered by augmented and virtual reality appear to be feasible instruments for facilitating the involvement of the public in the participatory planning process. Methods: The presented paper provides an overview and characterization of individual methods of presentation of urban planning intentions to the public, including novel augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) methods. These definitions were subsequently used to identify the intensity of research on the use of AR/VR in individual countries and analyzed the associations between that intensity and the democracy index (DI) characterizing those countries (only countries with a sufficient gross domestic product were included). Results: We proposed definitions of individual techniques of visualization for improving public participation in the urban planning process, including the discussion on the level of immersion achievable using individual techniques. In addition, statistically significant correlation was found between the intensity of research on the use of such techniques and the democracy index (r = 0.376, p << 0.001), suggesting a potential association. Conclusions: The proposed definitions can be helpful in future research in this field, supporting the comparability of results. As expected, the research on such techniques is more intensive in countries with more developed democracies. Still, it must be considered that higher level of virtualization does not always necessarily mean higher level of immersion and that advanced techniques can be used for misleading presentation of the urban planning intentions, even in democratic countries.

Comments on Steadman, D.W., Martin, P.S., MacPhee, R.D.E., Jull, A.J.T., McDonald, H.G., Woods, C.A., Iturralde-Vinent, M. & Hodgins, G.W.L. (2005) Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 102, 11763–11768. The debate over the causes of the Pleistocene megafaunal extinction dates back to the early 19th century (Grayson, 1984), and continues to generate considerable controversy (e.g. Grayson & Meltzer, 2003; Araujo et al., 2004; De Vivo & Carmignotto, 2004; Fiedel & Haynes, 2004; Burney & Flannery, 2005; Wroe et al., 2006). Typically, protagonists in this debate can be classified into two groups. One group argues that Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions were primarily caused by direct and indirect human action through hunting, habitat modification or introduction of new predators (Burney & Flannery, 2005, 2006; Barnosky et al., 2004; Fiedel & Haynes, 2004). The other interpretation is that humans had at most a minor role in the megafaunal extinction, and that the loss was attributable principally to a climatic cause (Ficcarelli et al., 2003; Grayson & Meltzer, 2003, 2004; Barnosky et al., 2004; De Vivo & Carmignotto, 2004; Boeskorov, 2006; Guthrie, 2006; Wroe et al., 2006; Wroe & Field, 2006). Here we contest the position of Steadman et al. (2005), who favour the overkill hypothesis to explain the ground sloth extinction in the Americas. Although making an important contribution to the debate on extinction of the New World megafauna, Steadman et al. (2005) make some important assumptions in their analysis. Steadman et al. (2005) argue that the extinction of ground sloths in the New World was concomitant with, and a consequence of, the human occupation of the Americas. Their argument is two-fold. First, the radiocarbon dates (14C) accepted by them for the last appearance dates (LADs) of these animals roughly correspond to megafaunal extinction dates in South and North America and the West Indies. These dates coincide with the human colonization of these regions and they argue that this supports the thesis that human arrival caused extinction of the ground sloth. Second, according to Steadman et al., extinctions caused by climatic fluctuation would result in concomitant LADs across the entire continent and associated islands, as they viewed these fluctuations as being widespread and uniform, whilst they found that the LADs for the West Indies, around 4400 14C yr bp [c. 4800–5050 calibrated years before present (cal. bp); dates calibrated with calib 5.0, Stuiver et al., 2005], are much younger than those found in the continent (c. 11,000 14C yr bp; c. 12,880–12,950 cal. bp for North America and c. 10,500 14C yr bp; c. 12,390–12,640 cal. bp for South America). We contend that the chronological data presented by Steadman et al. (2005) are incomplete, especially when considering South America. While Steadman et al. (2005) suggest that there are no acceptable Holocene LADs for ground sloths, a large number of Holocene dates generated through direct dating of bone and dung remains are indeed available in the literature. Barnosky et al. (2004; supporting material) revised the radiocarbon dates available for megafaunal remains throughout the world. In South America, they listed four articles with remains of megafauna dated within the Holocene, based both on direct and indirect dates. Even when considering only the results based on direct dates of bone remains, sufficient evidence still supports Holocene LADs for subequatorial ground sloths. For instance, from Argentina, Borrero et al. (1998) presented a total of seven 14C dates consistent with a Holocene survival of megafauna, albeit two of these ages are potentially unreliable, and four were obtained from one single specimen (indeed, one of the unreliable dates comes from this specimen; Table 1). Other reports not included in Barnosky et al. (2004) provide two direct radiocarbon ages of megafaunal bone remains from central Brazil at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (Table 1; Neves & Piló, 2003; Araujo et al., 2004). Politis et al. (2004; also not included in Barnosky et al., 2004) presented two additional Holocene direct radiocarbon ages of Megatherium americanum (Blumenbach) specimens (Table 1) and a third one from the Holocene/Pleistocene boundary (10,190 ± 120 14C yr bp; c. 11,820–12,020 cal. bp; Table 1), all in Argentina; and Marshall et al. (1984; also not included in Barnosky et al., 2004) reported a single Holocene age of 8910 ± 200 14C yr bp (c. 9780–10,150 cal. bp; GIF-4116) of a Scelidodon chiliensis (Lydekker) in Peru (Marshall et al., 1984;Pujos & Salas, 2004). Four of the sites where these dates were obtained are located in Argentina, while two are located in central Brazil and the last in Peru (Fig. 1). All the Argentinean sites (Arroyo Seco 2, La Moderna, Campo Laborde and Paso Otero 5) are open-air archaeological sites, i.e. the megafaunal remains are associated with prehistoric human occupations (see Borrero et al., 1998; Politis et al., 2004 for detailed descriptions). Arroyo Seco 2 is interpreted as a base camp where a large variety of activities were undertaken (Politis et al., 2004), including the exploitation of ground sloths and other megafauna by humans. However, Borrero et al. (1998) and Politis et al. (2004) do not state clearly if the two specimens (M. americanum and Equus neogeus Lund) that dated to the Holocene (Table 1) showed marks of human manipulation. The remaining open-air sites are believed to be sites used for specific activities (Politis et al., 2004): La Moderna is interpreted as an occasional megafaunal processing site, where the remains of a single glyptodont (Doedicurus clavicaudatus Owen) dated to the Holocene (Table 1) were recovered; Campo Laborde presents evidence that it was used as a hunting and processing site for ground sloths (M. americanum; Table 1); and Paso Otero 5, was also identified as a hunting and processing site for local megafauna. Archaeological and palaeontological sites in South America presenting direct Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene radiocarbon (14C) dates for megafaunal remains. Circles represent sites with no evidence of human exploitation of the megafaunal remains, whereas triangles represent sites with evidence of human exploitation of megafauna. 1, Gruta Cuvieri; 2, Escrivânia 5; 3, Gruta del Indio; 4, La Moderna; 5, Campo Laborde; 6, Arroyo Seco 2; 7, Paso Otero 5; 8, Pampa de los Fósiles. The two Brazilian sites, in contrast, are exclusively palaeontological, i.e. they are not associated with human occupations, and are located in limestone caves in the karstic region of Lagoa Santa. Gruta Cuvieri is a cave where three vertical chambers functioned as natural traps for the now extinct megafauna and other animals. The only megafauna species found so far is Catonyx cuvieri (Lund), a medium-sized ground sloth. The Holocene date presented in Table 1 was obtained from one of these ground sloths, found at the surface of one of the chambers. The other Brazilian site, Escrivânia 5, is part of a complex of caves, generically referred to as Escrivânia, representing one of the richest palaeontological limestone outcrops known at Lagoa Santa. Together with tons of animal fossil bones, in one of the chambers (Escrivânia 3) an almost complete human skeleton was also recently recovered, dated to 7650 ± 80 14C yr bp (c. 8370–8420 cal. bp; Beta 174734). The Peruvian site, Pampa de los Fósiles, is also a palaeontological site located in the Cupisnique Desert. Several archaeological sites in the region have revealed no evidence of human interaction with the megafauna in the region (Pujos & Salas, 2004). In addition to these reported dates, Steadman et al. (2005; supporting material) disqualified two other Holocene dates as unreliable (they also rejected a third date, but it has a very large margin of error). These were the only Holocene dates found in their bibliographical revision and they ‘have means that are up to 1000 years younger than means of any [of the accepted LADs] [Supplementary online material]’. As 10 reliable Holocene direct radiocarbon dates for megafauna are described here, there is no further reason to reject the dates of 8990 ± 90 14C yr bp (c. 9920–10,190 cal. bp; LP-925; Garcia, 2003) and 9560 ± 90 14C yr bp (c. 10,680–10,860 cal. bp; GrN-5772; Long et al., 1998) as unacceptable outliers. These two dates are from an Argentinean site, Gruta del Indio (Fig. 1; see Long et al., 1998; Garcia, 2003 for detailed descriptions). This site is a rockshelter, and although it presents chronological information placing humans together with megafauna in time, there is no evidence of humans exploiting the local megafauna (Long et al., 1998; Garcia, 2003). As presented in Table 1, from the 14 existing Holocene dates we found for megafaunal remains in South America eight are derived from ground sloths, which severely weakens the position of Steadman et al. (2005), that there are no acceptable Holocene LADs for ground sloths in the Americas. Assuming that human groups already inhabited South America around 12,500 14C yr bp (c. 14,300–14,950 cal. bp; Dillehay, 2000), the argument that the ground sloth LADs were concomitant with the human arrival in the New World can no longer be accepted, at least not as an immediate phenomenon. The second argument presented by Steadman et al. (2005) is that the apparent delay observed in the LADs of Central America islands, when compared with the continental ones, favours the overkill hypothesis. Delayed LADs in insular regions have been found in other parts of the world, independent of human presence (Guthrie, 2004; Boeskorov, 2006). Boeskorov (2006) showed that in northern Eurasian islands, megafauna survived into the Holocene, e.g. the mammoths of Wrangel Island. Nonetheless, the extinction of megafauna in Eurasia as a whole is believed to be primarily due to climatic changes (Barnosky et al., 2004; Boeskorov, 2006), particularly because no human presence is found in the Wrangel Islands until well after the extinction of the megafauna (Boeskorov, 2006). Although these data do not peremptorily disqualify Steadman’s argument, they do bring into question whether the overkill hypothesis is the most parsimonious explanation for megafaunal extinctions. Finally, it must be emphasized that there is a general lack of evidence of sloth remains in archaeological contexts in the Americas as a whole (but see Politis et al., 2004 for an exception), which also speaks against the overkill hypothesis. Specifically, in Lagoa Santa, despite the excavation of dozens of archaeological sites dated to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (showing human evidence as old as 11,000–11,500 14C yr bp; c. 12,880–13,400 cal. bp; Neves et al., 1999), evidence is lacking of megafaunal use by humans, either as a source of food or raw material (Kipnis, 1998; Prous & Fogaça, 1999). In North America, a similar situation is observed. According to Grayson & Meltzer (2003), there are only two genera of megafauna (Mammuthus Burnett, 1830 and Mammut Blumenbach, 1799) known to have been hunted by humans during the Clovis period (Grayson & Meltzer, 2003). This scenario is accepted even by Fiedel & Haynes (2004), strong defenders of the overkill hypothesis. Thus, at least in South America (and most probably in North and Central America as well), the idea that ground sloths went extinct due to overkill lacks archaeological support. In conclusion, the ground sloth overkill hypothesis, as defended by Steadman et al. (2005), is not sufficiently supported in the empirical world. As we have briefly pointed out: (1) a considerable number of reliable Holocene dates for megafaunal specimens in South America already exist, including for ground sloths; (2) the existence of late megafaunal LADs in Central America islands can be equally well explained through overkilling or environmental changes; and (3) the general lack of megafaunal killing sites and megafaunal remains in archaeological contexts is inconsistent with the overkill hypothesis. Nonetheless, it is important to emphasize that the amount of information regarding the presence of megafauna in archaeological sites is still too small to be considered as strong evidence against human predation of megafauna, and thus this piece of information must be interpreted as complementary to the others. Collectively, the data presented here are more consistent with a model explaining megafaunal extinction through climatic fluctuations, although in South America the poor chronological contextualization of the megafaunal decline does not yet allow for a percentage estimate of megafaunal genera that survived until human arrival. In North America (Grayson & Meltzer, 2002, 2003) and in Australia (Wroe et al., 2006; Wroe & Field, 2006), this percentage seems to have been small, suggesting that the megafaunal extinction was a protracted process, beginning much earlier than the human settlement of these continents. Such a decline may have been the case in South America, as only a few megafaunal genera apparently survived until the Holocene. While a human presence could have accelerated the process of extinction of the remaining megafaunal genera, climatic fluctuations could also have been responsible. Araujo et al. (2005) suggested a period of drought during the mid-Holocene in central Brazil, based on a general abandonment of the region by humans and also on palaeoenvironmental data. At least for central Brazil, megafaunal extinction could thus be also explained by the dry period that started between 8500 and 7500 14C yr bp (c. 9520–8190 cal. bp). Furthermore, according to Araujo et al. (2005) several authors recognize the existence of dry climatic periods during the early and mid-Holocene in South America. Bush et al. (2005) also found evidence suggesting the existence of this drier period in the Andes region (between 0° and 24°), although in this case it was not a single or synchronous event. Even if asynchronous, the important point here is that this dry period seems to have been a widespread phenomenon in South America. Thus, we concur with Borrero et al. (1998, p. 197) who propose that ‘people played at most a secondary role in the mega mammal extinctions, perhaps accelerating a process already underway before human arrival in South America’. We would like to thanks Rodolfo Salas for his kindness in assisting us in determining the Holocene date in Peru. Our long-term research in Lagoa Santa is funded by FAPESP (grant 04/01321-6) and by scholarships given to AH (FAPESP 04/11485-6), MH (FAPESP 04/01253-0) and to WAN (CNPQ 305918/85-0). Alex Hubbe is a graduate student at the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. His main interests are the palaeoecology and extinction of the South America megafauna. Mark Hubbe is an investigator at the Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo, Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile. His main research interest is the origin and dispersion of the First Americans. Walter Neves is the coordinator of the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. His main research interest is the origins and adaptations of the First Americans. Editor: Mark Bush

The aim of this work is to compare medical research productivity between democratic countries and their relatively undemocratic neighbors to identify mechanisms to promote medical research. Country of authorship was determined manually for articles published in 14 medical journals in 2005, and compared pairwise for democracies vs. relatively undemocratic nations: Israel vs. the rest of the Middle East; Japan vs. Russia; South Korea vs. North Korea; and Taiwan or Hong Kong vs. Mainland China. Democracies were quantitatively defined according to the Freedom House Index and the Economist's Index of Democracy. The frequency of publication of Israeli authors of unsolicited articles (excludes editorials) was found to be 1.08%, while its percentage of the world population is only .11% (OR = 9.97, 95%-ORCI: 4.30-23.1, P < 0.0001). This increase was invariant for more prestigious original articles (investigations) vs. less prestigious review articles or case reports, and for more prestigious high-impact factor journals vs. less prestigious low-impact factor journals. This increase was apparently not due to political favoritism: the relative frequency (RF) of Israeli authors of unsolicited articles was significantly higher than the RF of Israeli authors of solicited articles (i.e., invited editorials) (1.08% vs. 0.13%, OR = 8.38, 95%-ORCI = 1.46-48.1, P = 0.007); and was significantly higher than the RF of Israeli editorial board members (1.08% vs. 0.08%, OR = 13.0, 95%-ORCI = 2.27-74.7, P < 0.0001). Contrariwise, the frequency of publication of authors from the Middle East excluding Israel was 0.30%, while its percentage of the world population is 4.04% (OR = 0.071, 95%-ORCI = 0.04-0.12, P < 0.0001). The OR of Israeli authorship was incredibly 140.4-fold higher than the OR of the MEEI! The OR of authors of other democratic countries was also more than 100-fold the OR of authors of their undemocratic neighbors: Japan (OR = 4.93, 95%-ORCI = 3.82-6.36, P < 0.0001) vs. Russia (OR = 0.005, 95%-ORCI = 0.00-0.06, P < 0.0001); South Korea (OR = 3.48, 95%-ORCI = 2.29-5.31, P < 0.0001) vs. North Korea (OR < 0.36, 95%-ORCI = 0.00-0.35, P < 0.0001); Taiwan (OR = 5.12, 95%-ORCI = 2.85-9.19, P < 0.0001) or Hong Kong (OR = 9.21, 95%-ORCI = 3.51-24.2, P < 0.0001) vs. Mainland China (OR = 0.028, 95%-ORCI = 0.019-0.041, P < 0.0001). The OR of national authorship was closely correlated with two indices of democracy: correlation coefficient with Freedom House Index = 0.83, and correlation coefficient with the Economist's Democracy Index = 0.76. The OR of national authorship was also (mildly less) correlated with per capita income (corr. coeff. = 0.75). In conclusion, five democracies exhibit a remarkably higher relative frequency of medical publications than their relatively undemocratic neighbors. The relative frequency of authorship was, furthermore, extremely strongly correlated with democracy and political freedom. The freedom hypothesis may help explain this phenomenon: political freedom and liberty in democracies may promote intellectual creativity and medical research. This hypothesis should be tested by a multivariate analysis of univariate risk factors of medical authorship for all nations.

1 IntroductionThe field of electronic democracy and especially electronic voting is largely unexplored, its dimensions themselves being in a continuous changing process. There are numerous debates on this field, both in practice and literature, most of them on contradicting terms due to security problems and social and political implications. Thus, considering the expansion electronic voting systems built on the development of information and communication technology (ICT), solving the security aspect is crucial. Voting is a critical process of citizen participation to democracy, facilitating the manifestation of general opinion, but most specialists consider designing such a system complex and delicate.Security of electoral process must be perceived on the level of national security, because the legitimacy of a democracy depends on the degree of equitable, open and trustworthy elections [1]. The lack of trust in organization of the electoral process and government actions is a hot subject in democratic countries, thus also in Romania. Therefore a computerized system for electronic voting is a great responsibility, its failure having grave consequences on public trust in the political class. [2]Numerous international studies have been recently organized on international level with the purpose of evaluating the advantages and drawbacks of electronic voting. Worth mentioning is the European project Edemocracy: Technical possibilities of the use of electronic voting and other Internet tools in European elections (IP/A/STOA/FWC/2008096/LOT4/C1/SC2) [3] carried on between January 2010 and September 2011, which highlights in its final report E-public, eparticipation and e-voting in Europe - prospects and challenges the European experience in the field. However, the results and proofs are not conclusive because of the large diversity of existing systems that support a wide range of contexts and requirements. Examination of digital democracy cannot be isolated from other scientific and academic fields. Electronic voting is rather a social and political project then a technical one, a component of the political dimensions of the new media technologies, leading to improvements of social nature through increasing the number of citizens involved in the political decision process.Traditional voting processes seem to lack security. The concept of hiding a piece of paper inside an envelope to protect its confidentiality is more and more contested. In the current technological context, the voter - considered anonymous - can be easily identified using simple technology the reads finger prints or DNA samples, why wouldn't technology replace such a system? Since numerous countries (like Canada, USA, France, Great Britain, India, Estonia, Holland, Romania etc.) have approached the subject, the basic question is no longer if ICT must or must not be involved in the electoral process, but rather what kind of technology must be used in order to build an electronic voting system.Electronic participation must be understood as an interaction, mediated by technology, between the sphere of civil society and the sphere of politics. There are solutions and software systems destined to increase this participation, known as electronic methods or e-methods, like blog, webcast, polls, chats, forums, electronic petitions etc. Still, we must understand from the beginning that there is a major difference between e-shopping (for example) and e-voting.Electronic voting may be analysed from the perspective of a mechanism designed to improve electronic participation, the selection of procedures and technologies being a very important step. The electoral process is different from one nation to another, not only regarding the way to determine the elected candidates (for example proportional or according to majority), but also regarding the procedures and methods used to cast the votes, organizations involved etc.For example, in Europe voting varies from internet voting (in Estonia) [4] to fully manual process (in Greece and Italy). …

QuestionsIncreasingly, studies have demonstrated that not only environmental factors but also socioeconomic factors are important in determining species richness patterns. However, few studies have explored their effects on beta diversity. Here, we aimed to answer two questions based on woody species composition in a number of geographical administrative divisions: (1) how does beta diversity change with socioeconomic and environmental factors; and (2) what is the relative importance of socioeconomic and environmental factors in driving beta diversity of woody species?LocationEastern China.MethodsWe used abundance‐based beta diversity (Bray–Curtis) and species accumulation rate to quantify beta diversity of woody species of 20 counties in eastern China. Linear regression models were used to test the relationships between beta diversity and socioeconomic and environmental factors. The relative importance of socioeconomic and environmental factors in driving beta diversity was investigated using the variation partitioning method.ResultsWe found that elevation, annual precipitation, and location significantly affected species composition. Species accumulation rate increased significantly with Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita and human population density, and decreased with forest cover, topographic and climatic heterogeneity. In addition, abundance‐based beta diversity increased significantly with human population density. Moreover, socioeconomic factors, topographic and climatic heterogeneity independently explained 25%, 15%, and 1% of abundance‐based beta diversity separately.ConclusionSocioeconomic factors may have significant effects on beta diversity patterns of woody plants. Our study highlights the urgent need to consider socioeconomic factors when exploring large‐scale biodiversity patterns in human‐dominated landscapes and formulating related forest management strategies.

North America-Eurasia and South America-Africa were certainly joined in the classic reconstruction of Pangaea by Middle Triassic time. The line of collision and suture included the Appalachian Quachita-Marathon orogenic trend in the United States extending southwestward into what is now northeastern and southeastern Mexico and into Guatemala. Widespread continentality prevailed and there was no Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea. In Late Triassic time and continuing into Early Jurassic time this construct began to founder by initial rifting between South America-Africa and North America. No oceanic crust was formed, however, thus Africa-South America were still completely connected by land or shallow sea to North America until mid-Jurassic time. During this same uppermost Triassic to Middle Jurassic period a largely continental magmatic arc was draped across the Pacific margin of southwestern North America and apparently continued unbroken into northwestern South America. Sometime in the Middle Jurassic oceanic crust began to form by seafloor spreading in the central Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico as separation of South America-Africa from North America accelerated. Once this dense crust began to form the trailing margins of the continents subsided below sea-level and construction of the Atlantic and Gulf coast continental shelves began. Evidence is quite conclusive that this ocean floor spreading did not reach the Pacific Ocean, but was transformed from the southwestern corner of the newly opened Gulf of Mexico northwestward across Mexico via a complex left-slip transform fault system that reached the Pacific margin near Los Angeles. In Early Cretaceous time spreading continued in the central Atlantic but extended southward into the southern Atlantic. As the main axis of spreading extended into the south Atlantic, spreading ceased in the Gulf of Mexico. The south Atlantic spreading initiated separation of South America from Africa, but they probably remained in partial contact via ridge-ridge transform faults until Late Cretaceous time. South America must have finally completely separated from North America in Early Cretaceous time, probably via a rift along the eastern edge of Yucatan and the Nicaraguan rise. By Late Jurassic time the Pacific continental margin arc had waned and was replaced by a complex, largely oceanic, magmatic arc whose position relative to southwestern North America and northwestern South America is not known. What we do know is that by Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary time it had accreted against the Pacific margins of both. Connections between the continents are also not known but could have included a largely submarine magmatic arc, parts of which may have subsequently dispersed eastward as the Greater Antilles. Much of what is now Middle America is apparently underlain by oceanic crust at least as young as Late Cretaceous in age. By Late Cretaceous time the Greater Antilles magmatic arc seems to have fully formed and subsequently moved northeastward as a northeast-facing subduction system during Late CretaceousEarly Tertiary Laramide time. The Greater Antilles arc-trench system ceased activity in Late Eocene time as it collided with Florida and the Bahama platform and as Laramide orogeny waned throughout western North America. This was followed by a major plate reorganization in the Caribbean-Middle America region nearly 40 m.y. B.P. which established the Caribbean plate more or less as we know it today. The principal change was initiation of the Lesser Antilles magmatic arc as an east-facing subduction system that began to consume Atlantic ocean floor. Also, a west-facing subduction system may have formed about this time along a proto-Central American western margin of the Caribbean plate. However, much of what is now Central America may have initially been off southern Mexico. The northern and southern margins of the Caribbean plate evolved into complex transform and transpressive systems as North and South America moved westward past a nearly stationary Caribbean plate. These motions significantly fragmented the Greater Antilles into their present array. There is no evidence for any complete land connection between North and South America via the Greater and/or Lesser Antilles throughout later Mesozoic or Tertiary time. Nor is there any evidence for complete land connection via Central America and the Isthmus of Panama before Neogene time.

The fourth biennial meeting of the International Biogeography Society (IBS) in Merida, Yucatan in January 2009 represented a double opportunity for Mexican biologists. First, it fostered the integration of the large community of Mexican biogeographers with the activities of the IBS. Second, the meeting allowed us to welcome a large number of delegates from distant parts of the world who were able to visit what has been considered an obligate destination for nature lovers and cultural tourists alike: the Yucatan peninsula. As Edward O. Wilson pointed out, besides economic power every country has two additional and important types of wealth: cultural and natural. Cultural richness is a naturally embedded component of the Mexican way of life.

We performed an analysis of the climatic patterns of the temperate zones in North and South America using a global database of monthly precipitation and temperature. Three synthetic variables, identified by a principal component analysis (PCA) of the monthly data, were used: mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature and the proportion of the precipitation falling during summer. We displayed the spatial gradient of the three variables by constructing a com- posite colour raster image. We used a parallelepiped classification algorithm to locate areas in both continents that are climatically similar to five North American Long Term Ecological Research sites and to two South American long- term ecological research sites. The same algorithm was used to identify areas in South America which are climatically similar to some of the major grassland and shrubland types of North America. There is substantial overlap between the climates of North and South America. Most of the climatic patterns found in South America are well represented in North America. How- ever, there are certain climates in North America that are not found in South America. An example is a climate with relatively low mean annual temperature and high summer precipitation. The climatic signatures of three North American LTER sites (Cedar Creek, CPER and Sevilleta) were not found in South America. The climatic signatures of two LTER sites (Konza and Jornada) had some representation in South America. Two South American research sites (Rio Mayo and Las Chilcas) were well represented climatically in North America. The climates of six out of seven selected North American grassland and shrubland types were represented in South America. The northern mixed prairie type was not represented climatically in South America. Our analysis sug- gests that comparisons of North and South America can provide a powerful test of climatic control over vegetation.

PurposeThe research is aimed at developing an efficient electronic voting platform that would offer distinct advantages over traditional paper ballot voting and the available electronic voting systems.Design/methodology/approachBased on the analysis of the existing technologies and the authors' prior findings, electronic voting was approached as a public information and communication technologies service.FindingsA new methodology of forming election event outcomes is proposed, which is based on the outcomes of internet transactions between web portals such as “The Guarantor” and millions of remote electors, voting event officials and independent observers (auditors). The paper presents the structure of a state‐scale voting system that collects, processes publishes the results of different election events.Originality/valueThe system can accept votes cast online by internet or SMS, by mail, via electronic kiosks and by special computer‐filled paper ballots at polling stations. The system also provides a number of new possibilities for network verification of voter registration and the individual votes without compromising the voters' privacy. A model implementation of a web portal for remote monitoring of election events and individual outcome verification is presented.

Why are some countries successful with e-commerce while others flounder? This chapter is an update of an earlier research study that the authors conducted to analyze the impact of technology, cultural, and socio-economic factors on the global diffusion of e-commerce. The general thesis of this chapter is that cultural and socio-economic factors in addition to technology were the reasons for the growth of e-commerce within countries. There had been no prior studies that combined the aggregate effects of cultural, socio-economic, and technology factors on e-commerce diffusion. While technology could solely contribute to Internet surfing, culture and socio-economic factors can be pivotal in bridging the gap between Internet usage and e-commerce diffusion. The objective of this research is to provide a model that quantified the aggregated influences of technology, culture, and socio-economic factors on global e-commerce diffusion. In terms of methodology, a cross-country regression model was used to analyze the determinants of e-commerce diffusion and the results provide evidence that the propensity for e-commerce growth can be explained by these factors. The results were aimed at providing firms with a greater understanding of strategies to employ while implementing e-commerce across the world. This paper revisits that publication to see if any changes in the factors have occurred.

Complete molar pregnancy in adolescents from North and South America: Clinical presentation and risk of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia

This study presents a climatological and composite analysis of elevated mixed layers (EMLs) in South and North America derived from the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. The EMLs are identified based on objective criteria applied to the reanalysis data. Composite analyses of synoptic-scale conditions and severe weather parameters associated with spring EML cases are presented. EMLs are more frequent immediately to the east of the Andes and the Rockies. The North American EMLs form by surface heating over the higher terrain of the Rockies, with peak frequency occurring in spring and summer. EMLs in South America are generated by differential temperature advection due to ageostrophic circulations east of the Andes, as indicated by the temperature lapse rate tendency equation, which relates to the higher frequency of EMLs during the cold season in South America. EMLs over North America are about 100 hPa lower than over South America due to the lower height of the Rockies in comparison to the Andes. The synoptic conditions associated with EMLs in South and North America are characterized by an upper-level trough upstream and low-level moisture flux convergence due to poleward-directed flow, favoring synoptic-scale ascent poleward of the EML location, where the convective inhibition is relatively low. When EMLs occur, higher surface-based convective available potential energy and low-level storm-relative helicity, in association with lower lifting condensation level heights observed in North America, indicate that surface-based supercell storms and tornadoes are more likely to occur on this continent in comparison with South America, corroborating observations.

The pioneers of landscape architecture invented this profession in a period of democratic, science and industrial revolutions that encouraged civil rights movements. However, before WWII the courses in landscape architecture were developed in only a small number of countries. Until the mid- seventies several new landscape architecture programs started in Western Europe. From the mid-seventies to the end of the eighties existing programs increased their number of staff members and students. The fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1989, resulted in the establishment of several new university degree programs in Eastern Europe. The hypothesis that there would be a correlation between the development of landscape architecture education and the political regimes is discussed in this paper. Different landscape architecture university programs worldwide are analyzed to see their history and the background of the institutions that provide them. Two reputable resources are used to support this analysis: the Democracy Index, and the Freedom House Report. According to this analysis about 88% of landscape architecture programs are offered in democratic countries, 82% are offered in free countries. A good association between the number of landscape architecture programs and democracy index is verified for former communist countries. The analysis showed that the progress of democracy institutions and civil rights create the necessary environment for the development of the landscape architecture profession.

Electronic voting or E-voting, is the process by which votes can be cast through electronic means, such as an Electronic Voting Machine or voter’s personal device. This study aims to create a reasonably secure and hassle-free system through which votes can be cast by users through their phones with relative ease as compared to traditional means. Voting takes place through an app on the device, in which the user signs in with their ID and PIN. This lets the user establish secure means of communication with the server by exchanging encryption keys and authorization tokens, which in turn lets the user and server authenticate secure using various factors of authentication, such as a Time-based OTP system, to verify the user’s identity and let the cast their vote securely onto the server’s private blockchain. On the server side there will be “nodes” and an “owner” server that share a private blockchain, which handle counting the votes, authentication, user creation and managing the voting system and its configuration. After all the authentication is done, the user can cast their vote in the final part of the process. This will be verified using a token generated separately on both client and server side. If it matches then the user will get an appropriate message confirming their vote being cast, and upon failure the user can contact the appropriate authority conducting the poll for further action. Keywords: Blockchain, Electronic Voting, Cryptography

Predicting gross domestic product using the ensemble machine learning method