Candidate Quality Research Articles

Follow the Money: Gender, Incumbency, and Campaign Funding in Chile

We examine women’s access to campaign resources using data from all 960 candidates competing in Chile’s 2017 legislative elections. Even when controlling for district characteristics, women candidates receive less money in party transfers, bank loans, and donations; place fewer personal funds in their campaigns; and have fewer resources overall. However, previous experience and incumbency narrow the gap. When women are newcomers, gender serves as an important cue about candidate quality and funders default to favoring men. Our results lend credence to practitioners’ claims that money disadvantages women candidates in democracies, but focuses attention on the disadvantage faced by women newcomers. Moreover, this gender gap in campaign funding exists despite a gendered electoral financing scheme designed to make political actors more likely to invest in women’s campaigns. While increasingly popular among development experts, our research suggests such schemes might be insufficient for equalizing campaign funding between men and women.

Moral hazard in electoral teams: List rank and campaign effort

How do parties motivate candidates to exert effort in closed-list elections, where seat outcomes are uncertain only for candidates in marginal list positions? We argue that parties can solve this moral hazard problem by committing ex ante to allocate higher offices in government, such as cabinet portfolios, monotonically with list rank. Under this schedule of compensation, parties have incentives to rank candidates in order of quality (under some conditions) and candidates have incentives to increase the volume and geo-diversity of their campaign efforts as their rank improves. Using detailed data on Norwegian candidates and their use of mass and social media in recent elections, we confirm that (1) candidate quality increases with list rank, and (2) candidates in safer ranks shift from intra-district to extra-district and national media exposure—a composition of effort that can increase their party’s chance of entering government, and thus their own potential share of the spoils.

Driven to Extremes: Donald Trump's Extraordinary Impact on the 2020 Elections

AbstractReactions to the divisive person and presidency of Donald Trump dominated voting decisions in the 2020 elections, which consequently set new records for electoral continuity, party loyalty, nationalization, polarization, and presidential influence on the down‐ballot vote choices, to the point where local factors such as incumbency, candidate quality, and campaign spending barely registered in the congressional election results. Evaluations of Trump’s leadership in the national crises besetting the United States in 2020 were assimilated almost entirely into existing attitudes toward the president, limiting the impact of these events. The Democrats achieved unified control of the government, but by the narrowest of margins, and the political configuration that had emerged from Trump’s election in 2016 remained largely intact. Republicans’ responses to Trump’s seditious efforts to nullify Biden’s victory promise to extend his influence through the 2022 elections and beyond.

Addiction Medicine Practice-Based Research Network (AMNet): Assessment Tools and Quality Measures.

IntroductionThe need for innovative approaches to address the opioid epidemic in the United States is widely recognized. Many challenges exist to addressing this epidemic, including the obstacles outpatient substance use treatment practices face in implementing measurement-based care (MBC), quality measurement systems, and evidence-based treatments. Also, there are insufficient opportunities for clinicians in these settings to participate in research, resulting in diminished translation of research findings into community-based practice. To address these challenges, the Addiction Medicine Practice-Based Research Network (AMNet) was developed to facilitate the uptake of MBC in outpatient practices via implementation of patient-reported assessments and quality of care performance measures to improve patient outcomes. This network will offer clinicians in outpatient settings (not incuding opioid treatment programs [OTPs]) the opportunity to participate in future substance use disorder treatment research studies.MethodsA key step in the development of AMNet was the selection of substance use-specific assessment tools and quality of care performance measures for incorporation into the American Psychiatric Association’s mental health patient registry, PsychPRO. A scoping review and multi-step consensus-based process were used to identify, review and select candidate assessment tools and quality of care performance measures for opioid use disorders (OUD) and substance use disorders (SUD).ResultsFollowing a consensus-based methodology, 12 standardized assessment tools and 3 quality of care performance measures for OUD and SUD were selected to help facilitate the implementation of MBC and quality improvement for AMNet participants. These tools were further categorized as core and optional.ConclusionBy offering a collection of carefully vetted assessment tools and quality measures through PsychPRO, AMNet will help participating clinicians with the systematic uptake of MBC and delivery of evidence-based treatment for patients with SUD. Also, AMNet will act as a centralized repository of data collected from patients and clinicians in non-OTP outpatient addiction medicine practices and serve as a platform for opioid treatment research.

Political parties and campaign resource allocation: Gender gaps in Brazilian elections

Political parties shape electoral outcomes by determining who stands for election and what campaign resources they have at their disposal. The introduction of gender quotas have led party leaders to nominate more women candidates, however, those women disproportionately lose. We contend that one of the reasons that women routinely lose is because party elites withhold the campaign resources necessary to mount an effective campaign. In this paper, we test this resource gatekeeping argument using data on the provision of campaign resources in Brazil. We analyze the distribution of three different types of party resources: candidate identification numbers, financial support, and television airtime. Our findings show that party elites provide female candidates less advantageous candidate identification numbers, less financial support, and less media access than they provide male candidates. Importantly, we do not find that gender gaps in campaign contributions are attributable to differences in candidate quality. This finding suggests that even when women are recruited to run for office, party elites may still undermine their electoral prospects.

Improving the quality of care for patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy.

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is the preferred extracorporeal kidney support therapy employed to support critically ill patients with acute or chronic kidney dysfunction in intensive care units. Significant heterogeneity in CRRT practice exists in part due to variable logistics, resources, and scarcity of evidence-based CRRT practices. Importantly, homogenization of practice patterns by developing substantial evidence and effective dissemination among providers is essential for optimizing CRRT practices. The emphasis on quality of CRRT delivery has prompted identification of potential quality indicators, development of multifaceted quality improvement initiatives, effective computer science utilization, and a surge of multidisciplinary quality assurance teams that advocate for "best" CRRT practices. This manuscript provides an overview of quality improvement methodologies and reviews candidate quality indicators of CRRT and the impact of quality improvement on enhancing CRRT delivery practices.

Informed voters and electoral outcomes: a natural experiment stemming from a fundamental information-technological shift

Do informed electorates choose better candidates? While that question is straightforward, its answer often is elusive. Typically, candidate-quality information is neither salient nor subject to exogenous change. We identify a natural experiment within a non-political election setting that is transparent and features exogenous change in the candidate-quality information frontier. The setting is Major League Baseball’s (MLB) annual selection of two most valuable players, a challenging environment with an innately heterogeneous candidate set, and the exogenous change is the development of the pathbreaking, comprehensive player-value measure Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in 2004 and its subsequent calculation for all retrospective MLB player-seasons. WAR's development and rapid popularization informed voting from 2004 onward. Retrospective calculation allows us to draw back the curtain and evaluate how pre-2004 voters behaved with respect to revealed candidate quality. From negative binomial, fixed-effect regression models, we find robust evidence of significant, substantial, pivotal behavioral change on the part of voters since 2004.

Reducing a Barrier to Entry: The 120/150 CPA Licensing Rule

In the United States, one of the most common state-level occupational licensing requirements is education. Education requirements for certified public accountants (CPAs) in many states have increased over the past few decades, but recently a few states have reduced their educational requirement to sit for the CPA exam. Using data from 2006 to 2016, we separately examine the effects of relaxing or strengthening educational requirements on the number of first-time candidates sitting for the CPA exam and on candidate performance. Our results indicate that a reduction in the number of credit hours required to sit for the CPA exam increases the number of candidates, while an increase in the number of prerequisite hours reduces the number of candidates (the latter effect is sensitive to the inclusion of control variables). We also find no relationship between changes in CPA exam requirements and pass rates or scores. Hence, requiring 150 h instead of 120 acts as a barrier to entry for potential CPAs with no accompanying increase in candidate quality.

Candidate Quality Measures for Orthopaedic Surgery Outreach Trips: A Systematic Review.

Up to 30% of the global burden of disease is secondary to surgical conditions, most of which falls on those in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Ensuring that the quality of care delivered during outreach trips to address these conditions is foundational. Limited work has been done to develop and implement tools to assess and improve the quality of care for these trips. The purpose of this study was to identify candidate quality measures that address orthopaedic surgery outreach trips in LMICs. We conducted a systematic review of MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and other databases to identify candidate quality measures relevant to orthopaedic surgery outreach to LMICs. Quality measures were then categorized by system management, sustainability, or both system management and sustainability according to the framework and structures, processes, and outcomes of Bido et al according to the Donabedian domains. Our initial search yielded 3,891 articles, 22 of which met the inclusion criteria. Seventy-nine candidate quality measures were identified. Regarding the framework of Bido et al, 55 of 79 (70%) were related to system management, 8 (10%) were related to sustainability, and 16 (20%) were related to both system management and sustainability. According to Donabedian domains, 43 of 79 (54%) were structure measures, 25 (32%) were process measures, and 11 (14%) were outcome measures. Quality measures addressing orthopaedic surgery outreach trips are lacking in quantity and breadth, limiting the ability to assess and improve the safety and quality of care provided. The candidate quality measures identified disproportionately focus on systems management and structures, with few related to sustainability and few addressing outcomes. Patients receiving care on outreach trips would benefit from the implementation of the measures identified in this review and from the development of quality measures that capture all domains of care and emphasize outcomes. Level III.

Structure-based optimisation of orally active & reversible MetAP-2 inhibitors maintaining a tight ‘molecular budget’

Structure-based led optimisation of orally active reversible Methionine Aminopeptidase-2 (MetAP-2) inhibitors utilising a ‘molecular budget’ medicinal chemistry strategy is described. The key physicochemical parameters of target molecules (cLogP, molecular size and H-bond donor count) were monitored through straightforward and intuitive use of atom count and distribution. The balance between structure-based design and an awareness of the physicochemical properties of the compounds synthesised enabled the rapid identification of a potent molecule with good oral pharmacokinetic (PK) characteristics by making fewer, higher quality compounds. The resulting candidate quality molecule was validated in a mechanistic cellular assay and a rodent secondary immunisation model.

Feasibility of Quality Measures for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Society for Surgery of the Hand developed candidate quality measures for potential inclusion in the Merit-Based Incentive Program and National Quality Forum in the hope that hand surgeons could report specialty-specific data. The following measures regarding the management of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were developed using a Delphi consensus process: (1) use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnosis of CTS, (2) use of adjunctive surgical procedures during carpal tunnel release (CTR), and (3) use of formal occupational and/or physical therapy after CTR. This study simulated attempts to identify outlier regions in an insurance claims database, which is an important step in establishing feasibility of these measures. Using the Truven Health MarketScan, we identified 643,357 patients who were given a diagnosis of CTS between 2012 and 2014. We reported the percentage of metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) with one or more claims for MRI within 90 days of CTS diagnosis, one or more adjunctive surgical procedures, and one or more formal referrals for physical and/or occupational therapy within 6 weeks of CTR, and we calculated the rate of use for each of these diagnostic or treatment modalities. In addition, we report the precision ratio (signal to noise), SD, and 95% confidence interval. A high percentage of patients given a diagnosis of CTS did not have MRI (99%), and the precision ratio was considered high (0.99). Over 30% of all observed MSAs had at least one claim for MRI as a diagnostic modality in CTS. Most patients (98%) did not have adjunctive surgical procedures. For the observed years, over 28% of MSAs had at least one insurance claim for an adjunctive procedure. A total of 86% of patients did not receive formal occupational or physical therapy after CTR. In addition, 92% of MSAs had at least one claim for therapy. The precision ratio was considered high (approximately 0.85). There is regional variation in the utilization rate of diagnostic MRI for CTS, adjunctive surgical procedures, and formal referral for physical and occupational therapy. For the proposed quality measures, outlier regions can be detected in insurance claims data. Use of MRI in diagnosis, adjunctive surgical procedures, and formal therapy after surgery are feasible quality measures for the Merit-Based Incentive Program and National Quality Forum.

A checklist to assess the quality of survey studies in psychology

Study quality is emerging as an essential component of evidence syntheses. It allows practitioners and policymakers to make informed decisions based on the quality of the evidence reviewed. Study quality is typically assessed by checklists of pre-determined quality criteria. Few study quality checklists have been systematically evaluated, and none have been developed specifically for survey studies in psychology. The present study addresses this evidence gap by developing the quality of survey studies in psychology (Q-SSP) checklistusing an expert-consensus method. An international panel of experts in psychology research and quality assessment (N = 53) evaluated the inclusion and importance of candidate quality items and offered commentary. The resulting checklist was used to evaluate a set of survey studies and inter-rater reliability of checklist scores was computed. A preliminary test of criterion validity of checklist scores was conducted using on a sample of survey studies with ‘known differences’ in study quality verified by experts. Experts exhibited high agreement on inclusion and importance ratings of the candidate items. Minor adjustments were made to the candidate items based on experts' feedback. Inter-rater reliability of study quality scores using the checklist was high. Some evidence for criterion validity of scores using the checklist was obtained. Overall, we provide preliminary data to support the Q-SSP checklist as a potential means to evaluate the quality of survey studies in psychology. We recommend a future large-scale study using the Q-SSP checklist to assess study quality in studies with known differences in quality verified by experts.

Resisting Broken Windows

Concurrent housing and opioid crises have increased exposure to street-crime, homelessness and addiction in American cities. What are the political consequences of this increased neighborhood disorder? We examine a change in social context following the relocation of homelessness and drug treatment services in Boston. In 2014, an unexpected bridge closing forced nearly 1000 people receiving emergency shelter or addiction treatment to relocate from an island in the Boston Harbor to mainland Boston, causing sustained increases in drug-use, loitering, and other features of neighborhood disorder. Residents near the relocation facilities mobilized to maintain order in their community. In the subsequent Mayoral election, their turnout grew 9% points while participation in state and national elections was unchanged. However, increased turnout favored the incumbent Mayor, consistent with voter learning about candidate quality following local shocks. Voters responded to neighborhood changes at the relevant electoral scale and rewarded responsive politicians.

Quality Measures to Reduce Opioid Use After Common Soft Tissue Hand and Wrist Procedures

To develop quality measures that are clinically important, feasible, usable, and scientifically acceptable for reducing opioid use after soft tissue procedures of the hand and wrist, and which can be used to evaluate quality in hand surgery. A consortium of 9 fellowship-trained hand/upper-limb surgeons with expertise in quality measure development used the RAND Corporation/University of California Los Angeles Delphi Appropriateness method to evaluate the validity of 2 quality measures for reducing opioid use, based on 4 quality indicators (clinical importance, feasibility, usability, and scientific acceptability). Panelists rated each measure on a scale of 1 (definitely not important/feasible/usable/supported) to 9 (definitely important/feasible/usable/supported) in 2 voting rounds with an intervening face-to-face discussion. Agreement was assessed using predetermined criteria. A measure was considered a valid quality measure if it received a median score of 7 or higher for all 4 indicators with no more than 2 panelists rating outside the range of 7 to9. Panelists achieved agreement on the 4 quality indicators for measuring the proportion of patients undergoing carpal tunnel release, trigger finger release, first dorsal compartment release, or ganglion cyst excision who received structured counseling on opioid use. Panelists also achieved agreement on the 4 quality indicators for measuring the proportion of patients without recent opioid use who did not fill an opioid prescription within 30 days after these procedures. Both candidate quality measures were considered valid. Using a validated consensus-building approach, we developed process and outcome quality measures for reducing opioid use after soft tissue hand surgery that were demonstrated to be valid according to 4 quality indicators. In the era of value-based health care, hand surgeons are assuming increasing responsibility in the prevention of excess opioid prescribing. Quality measures for reducing opioid overprescription can help promote the delivery of evidence-based, high-quality care in hand surgery.

EXTREMIST PLATFORMS: POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF PROFIT‐SEEKING MEDIA

AbstractWe analyze how information about candidate quality affects the choice of electoral platforms made by an office‐motivated political challenger. The incumbent is of known quality and located at the ideal policy of the voter. The voter cares for both policy and the candidates' quality and can learn about the challenger's quality by buying information. A high‐quality challenger then has an incentive to signal her quality by choosing a policy that induces the voter to buy information. We first study the benchmark case in which the information is supplied exogenously, and its quality is independent of the challenger's platform; this yields multiple equilibria and indeterminacy of equilibrium platforms. By contrast, when the information is supplied by a profit‐maximizing media outlet, its quality depends on the challenger's platform and we obtain a unique equilibrium platform. In particular, when the incumbent's quality is relatively low, the media coverage rises and the challenger's platform diverges further from the voter's ideal policy as the voter's preference for quality increases.

Evaluation of the Master of curriculum and science instruction in Taibah University in the light of (CAEP) Standards: تقويم برنامج ماجستير مناهج وطرق تدريس العلوم بجامعة طيبة في ضوء معايير (CAEP)

This study aimed to evaluate the master program of curriculum and science instruction in Taibah University in the light of the standards of council for the accreditation of educator preparation (CAEP). To achieve that, the study applied a questionnaire on the research population that consisted of all the faculty members (7) in the curriculum and science instruction specialty. And all the students (7) in the curriculum and science instruction specialty. The questioner consisted of (32) items distributed on the (CAEP) five standards: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge, Clinical Partnerships and Practice, Candidate Quality and Selectivity, Program Impact, Provider Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement. The results showed that (CAEP) standards are highly available in the program with an average of (3.46) where: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge comes first with an average of (3.67) then Candidate Quality and Selectivity (3.51), Program Impact (3.45), Clinical Partnerships and Practice (3.41), and they all were highly available. And in the last place Provider Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement (3.08) with a medium availability in the program. And the results showed that There were no significant differences at the level of significance(α≤0.05) between the faculty members and students responds of (CAEP) standards availability in the program. The study recommended prepare the curriculum and science instruction specialty to import (CAEP) standards. and perform more studies about (CAEP) standards.

The Gendered Politics of Congressional Elections

Are female candidates less likely than male candidates to attract votes or win elections? We conduct a large-n longitudinal analysis employing survey and observational data from every two-party congressional race over a 12-year period (2006–2018) and connect individual-level theory and evidence with aggregate-level results. We demonstrate that candidate gender significantly influences congressional vote-choice and election outcomes. Holding other variables constant, we show that male Republican and male independent voters are significantly less likely to vote for female Democratic candidates, but do not assess a similar penalty on female Republican candidates. Perceived ideological distance does not explain the lack of support for female Democrats—however, variation in candidate quality does: Female Democratic candidates can attract the support of male Republican and male independent voters when they have a qualifications advantage, but are penalized when they are merely “as qualified.” At the aggregate-level, female Democratic candidates with a qualifications advantage are as likely as males to win elections; but are significantly less likely than males to win when qualifications are held constant. The proportion of male Republicans and male independents in a district determines the extent of the penalty, with women’s electoral prospects declining as this proportion increases. Women can win, but they need to be highly qualified and strategic about the races in which they emerge. These findings contribute to our understanding of the micro- and macro-level factors that shape women’s electoral fortunes; and advance the goal of representational equality by helping candidates and campaigns concentrate their efforts on the most winnable voters and districts.

Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein as Biomarker Indicates Purity and Property of Auricular Chondrocytes.

Instead of the silicone implants previously used for repair and reconstruction of the auricle and nose lost due to accidents and disease, a new treatment method using tissue-engineered cartilage has been attracting attention. The quality of cultured cells is important in this method because it affects treatment outcomes. However, a marker of chondrocytes, particularly auricular chondrocytes, has not yet been established. The objective of this study was to establish an optimal marker to evaluate the quality of cultured auricular chondrocytes as a cell source of regenerative cartilage tissue. Gene expression levels were comprehensively compared using the microarray method between human undifferentiated and dedifferentiated auricular chondrocytes to investigate a candidate quality control index with an expression level that is high in differentiated cells, but markedly decreases in dedifferentiated cells. We identified glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a marker that decreased with serial passages in auricular chondrocytes. GFAP was not detected in articular chondrocytes, costal chondrocytes, or fibroblasts, which need to be distinguished from auricular chondrocytes in cell cultures. GFAP mRNA expression was observed in cultured auricular chondrocytes, and GFAP protein levels were also measured in the cell lysates and culture supernatants of these cells. However, GFAP levels detected from mRNA and protein in cell lysates were significantly decreased by increases in the incubation period. In contrast, the amount of protein in the cell supernatant was not affected by the incubation period. Furthermore, the protein level of GFAP in the supernatants of cultured cells correlated with the in vitro and in vivo production of the cartilage matrix by these cells. The productivity of the cartilage matrix in cultured auricular chondrocytes may be predicted by measuring GFAP protein levels in the culture supernatants of these cells. Thus, GFAP is regarded as a marker of the purity and properties of cultured auricular chondrocytes.

The impact of cuing candidate quality on female candidates

How can parties improve the electoral prospects of traditionally under-represented women? We argue that if a party signals that a single female candidate is of high quality, other women appearing on the ballot with her will receive a boost in support. More specifically, if a female candidate heads a party's list in the district, other women from her party will be rewarded with more votes. We test our reasoning by examining the nomination and election of women in three Free-List Proportional Representation systems where voters can cast multiple preference votes for individual candidates. We find robust support for the finding that when voters receive a signal that women can be quality candidates, they tend to reward additional women with preference votes regardless of their rank on the ballot.

Introducing Media in a Model of Electoral Competition With Candidate Quality

Introducing Media in a Model of Electoral Competition With Candidate Quality