Voting Results Research Articles

Thresholds for the value judgement of health technologies in the United Arab Emirates: a consensus approach through voting sessions

BackgroundIn the evolving healthcare landscape of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), establishing cost-effectiveness thresholds (CETs) is pivotal to informing decision-makers about the value of health technologies.ObjectiveThis study aimed to establish...

Peer instruction in chemistry classes: systematic review on contributions and possibilities

This work provides a mapping of studies concerning Peer Instruction (PI) in the teaching of chemistry. To this end, a systematic review was undertaken of how PI has been implemented and investigated in chemistry classes, as well as the impact of PI on the learning outcomes of students. The review covers the period from 1991 to 2022. The reported studies were mainly conducted at higher education institutions, at public universities in England, Turkey, the USA, and Brazil. In chemistry courses, the PI method was implemented in subareas such as general chemistry, physical chemistry, and analytical chemistry. Some studies adapted PI to online courses, while others compared different types of peer groups and investigated the influence of different factors on PI, such as pre-class reading and showing live voting results. The effectiveness of PI varied depending on the way it was implemented, such as in peer grouping, online activities, or presential classes. The outcomes of PI in chemistry classes have mainly been monitored by means of the perceptions of the students, with performance in answering conceptual questions frequently being used as an assessment tool. This review found only a few studies concerning PI in chemistry, particularly in high school chemistry classes. Additionally, pre-class activities were not widely employed. Most of the articles utilized quantitative analysis and indicated positive outcomes for the learning process.

Decentralizing Democracy: Secure and Transparent E-Voting Systems with Blockchain Technology in the Context of Palestine

Elections and voting play a crucial role in the development of a democratic society, enabling the public to express their views and participate in the decision-making process. Voting methods have evolved from paper ballot systems to e-voting systems to preserve the integrity of votes, ensuring a secure, transparent, and verifiable process. Continuous efforts have been made to develop a secure e-voting system that eliminates fraud attempts and provides accurate voting results. In this paper, we propose the architecture of a blockchain-based e-voting system called VoteChain. Developed to support the existing voting system in the state of Palestine, VoteChain aims to provide secure e-voting with features such as auditability, verifiability, accuracy, privacy, flexibility, transparency, mobility, availability, convenience, data integrity, and distribution of authority. The work introduces a smart contract designed to meet the demands of e-voting, governing transactions, monitoring computations, enforcing acceptable usage policies, and managing data usage after transmission. The proposed system also adopts advanced cryptographic techniques to enhance security. VoteChain features a web-based interface to facilitate user interaction, providing protection against multiple or double voting to ensure the integrity of the election. Furthermore, VoteChain is designed with a user-friendly and easily accessible administrator interface for managing voters, constituencies, and candidates. It ensures equal participation rights for all voters, fostering fair and healthy competition among candidates while preserving voter anonymity. A comparative analysis demonstrates VoteChain’s advancements in privacy, security, and scalability over both traditional and blockchain-based e-voting systems.

Forecasting Popular Vote and Electoral College Vote Results: Partisan-Bounded Economic Model

Forecasting Popular Vote and Electoral College Vote Results: Partisan-Bounded Economic Model

Президентские выборы в Иране 2024 года: институциональный и политический контекст

The article is dedicated to the presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran held in the summer of 2024 in difficult conditions caused by death of the then-current president Ebrahim Raisi and complication of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East due to the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a threat of escalation of the Lebanese-Israeli confrontation. At the same time, Israel, USA and European countries traditionally try to affect the electoral process in Iran by calling citizens for boycott of electoral procedures and claiming that voting results are illegal long before the elections. Experience of the Iranian elections is interesting not only from the standpoint of protection of electoral sovereignty but also in terms of review of the institutional design of the electoral system that significantly differs from foreign experience and reflects cultural and political features of the state.

ELECTORAL PROCESS AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE: CAUSES AND CHARACTERISTICS

The article is devoted to the study of the main causes, mechanisms and patterns of political violence in the context of electoral struggle. It has been found that under conditions of significant competition and uncertainty of election results, political elites may choose illegal tools and strategies to maintain power: violence, bribery, fraud, intimidation, and persecution of opponents. It has been proven that the use of violence during the electoral process can significantly distort the voting results, undermine the legitimacy of the elections, and limit the participation of opposition candidates and voters.It has been determined that electoral violence involves the use of organized physical coercion, repression, intimidation, persecution, and destruction of property before, during, and after elections in order to influence the electoral process, voter behavior, and voting results. Such violence becomes an obstacle to holding democratic, fair, free, and competitive elections, hinders the establishment of consensus between government and opposition forces, and can provoke a large-scale armed conflict. It has been proven that the causes of electoral violence include the participants’ desire to influence voting results, increase their advantage over competitors, intimidate disloyal voters, deprive opposition supporters of the opportunity to vote, delegitimize the electoral process, and discredit the government’s ability to maintain security and the functioning of political institutions. As a result, it was found that political competition, unpredictable election results and ethnic polarization of society increase the likelihood of electoral violence, deep political crisis and armed confrontation, which can have critical consequences for political security and the sustainability of democracy.

Digit and Mark Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Network for Voting Digitization in Indonesia

Digitization of voting results in Indonesia is essential to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the election process. This research introduces an innovative approach that uses Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) for handwritten number recognition and tally mark recognition. This research uses a dataset obtained from Kaggle. The research process is conducted in several stages, namely Data Collection, Preprocessing, Data Sharing, Modelling, and Evaluation. The results showed that the proposed model achieved an accuracy of 98%. This research shows that using the CNN algorithm for handwritten number recognition and tally mark recognition can improve accuracy and efficiency in digitizing voting results. It is expected that this research can make a significant contribution to the development of a more reliable digital voting system. Future research is recommended to use a larger dataset to validate the strength of the model, which has been built on more varied data.

The management of digital transformation of education in the context of the implementation of constitutional amendments

The amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which came into force following the results of the all-Russian vote in July 2020, directly affected issues of public administration in education. These constitutional amendments refer to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation to establish a unified legal framework for the system of education and upbringing, including continuing education. At the same time, the strategic directions for the development of the state outlined by the President of the Russian Federation after the publication of amendments to the Constitutiondetermined the need to achieve digital maturity of key sectors of the economy and the social sphere, including education. The article examines the issues of managing the digital transformation of education based on the constitutional thesis on the continuity of education, as well as taking into account the principle of unity of education and upbringing established at the legislative level, the unity of the educational space on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Full process of recommendation formulation for clinical practice guidelines: Taking World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies Clinical Practice Guideline on Acupuncture and Moxibustion: Allergic Rhinitis as an example: 临床实践指南推荐意见形成全流程实例:以世界针灸学会联合会《针灸临床实践指南:过敏性鼻炎》为例

The formulation of recommendations is a crucial step in the development of clinical practice guidelines, which requires tools provided by the GRADE methodology. These tools include the evidence quality assessment tool, the evidence summary tool, and the evidence-to-decision (EtD) framework. Although there is a methodologically guided standard pathway for formulating recommendations in clinical practice guidelines, it remains unclear how to translate this theoretical pathway into the practical process for formulating recommendations and what the specific steps in this process entail. Therefore, this paper takes the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies Clinical Practice Guidelines on Acupuncture and Moxibustion: Allergic Rhinitis as an example to detail the full process of formulating recommendations and summaries it into a three-step method. Step one: Collect original materials from different sources to create EtD table. Step two: Distribute and collect EtD table, and preliminarily gather the recommendation voting results. Step three: Organize “salami-slicing pattern” guideline development group consensus meeting to formulate recommendations. The three-step method for formulating recommendations in clinical practice guidelines fully utilizes the GRADE EtD table to provide guideline development group with decision-making foundation and reference from multiple dimensions, including the importance of clinical questions, balance of benefits and harms, quality of evidence, resource required, values and preferences, health equity, acceptability, and feasibility. This approach enhances the scientific and practical nature of guideline recommendations. This paper provides a standard operating procedure to formulate recommendations for the incoming clinical practice guidelines, which aims to establish a standard pathway for the formulation of acupuncture clinical practice guideline recommendations.

Estimator Comparison for the Prediction of Election Results

Cluster randomized experiments and estimator comparisons are well-documented topics. In this paper, using the datasets of the popular vote in the presidential elections of the United States of America (2012, 2016, 2020), we evaluate the properties (SE, MSE) of three cluster sampling estimators: Ratio estimator, Horvitz–Thompson estimator and the linear regression estimator. While both the Ratio and Horvitz–Thompson estimators are widely used in cluster analysis, we propose a linear regression estimator defined for unequal cluster sizes, which, in many scenarios, performs better than the other two. The main objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to indicate which estimator is most suited for predicting the outcome of the popular vote in the United States of America. We do so by applying the single-stage cluster sampling technique to our data. In the first partition, we use the 50 states plus the District of Columbia as primary sampling units, whereas in the second one, we use 3112 counties instead. Secondly, based on the results of the aforementioned procedure, we estimate the number of clusters in a sample for a set standard error while also considering the diminishing returns from increasing the number of clusters in the sample. The linear regression estimator is best in the majority of the examined cases. This type of comparison can also be used for the estimation of any other country’s elections if prior voting results are available.

Quantum Voting Machine Encoded with Microwave Photons

Abstract We propose a simple quantum voting machine using microwave photon qubit encoding, based on a setup comprising multiple microwave cavities and a coupled superconducting flux qutrit. This approach primarily relies on a multi-control single-target quantum phase gate. The scheme offers operational simplicity, requiring only a single step, while ensuring verifiability through the measurement of a single qubit phase information to obtain the voting results. And it provides voter anonymity, as the voting outcome is solely tied to the total number of affirmative votes. Our quantum voting machine also has scalability in terms of the number of voters. Additionally, the physical realization of the quantum voting machine is general and not limited to circuit QED. Quantum voting machine can be implemented as long as the multi-control single-phase quantum phase gate is realized in other physical systems. Numerical simulations indicate the feasibility of this quantum voting machine within the current quantum technology.

Foreign Policy Aspects of the Activities of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the First Convocation (on the 30th Anniversary of the Start of Work)

The article considers the foreign policy aspects of the activities of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the First convocation. The specifics of the main results of parliamentary votes of this period, which were related to international-political realities, in the context of their relationship with the conceptual foundations and implementation of Russian foreign policy, have been characterized. Features of the composition and nature of the activities of the lower house of the Russian parliament of this period have been identified. The conceptualization of the Russian Federation’s foreign policy has been analyzed. The initiatives and decisions of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the First convocation in the field of foreign policy and international relations have been assessed. It is shown that these were due to the specifics of its personal composition, where there was no strict factional discipline and a clear advantage of any political force, which determined the need for situational interaction. The normal work of the lower house of parliament became possible largely due to the efforts of its Chairman, who took a centrist position. It is substantiated that the State Duma, operating in conditions of complex socio-economic problems and the colossal weakening of Russia’s international political positions, demonstrated significant activity in international political initiatives that covered a wide range of topical issues with an emphasis on the situation in the states of the post-Soviet space. These decisions were relatively balanced, which was explained by the approximately equal distribution of resources between the so-called “left”, “right”, “centrists” and “national patriots”, as well as the presence of “common bloc” issues, positions on which coincided or did not cause obvious contradictions. The international political initiatives of the State Duma of the First convocation were distinguished by greater realism and emphasis on the protection of national interests than the content of conceptual documents and the foreign policy course pursued by the state. This happened against the background and simultaneously with the beginning of the process of rethinking the foreign policy approaches of the Russian Federation, which had a significant influence on it.

The influence of election funds on the results of voting

The influence of election funds on the results of voting

Politics and Substance Use Disorder an Unexpected Vote Result for HR 4531

Background: Substance use disorders occur when the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home.

The role of political ideology on variety-seeking behavior during crisis-induced threats: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

In an era marked by heightened political polarization and escalating crises, our study provides timely, empirics-first insights into how political ideology influences consumers’ variety-seeking behaviors when they experience crisis-induced threats—specific events that are perceived to endanger physical and financial well-being—versus normal conditions. We advance knowledge by investigating the interplay between political ideology, variety seeking, and crisis-induced threats using a large-scale dataset of over 32 million U.S. grocery transactions before and during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as county-level voting results. In doing so, we seek to answer three questions: (1) How does political ideology influence variety seeking under normal conditions? (2) How do crisis-induced threats influence variety seeking? and (3) How does political ideology influence variety seeking under crisis-induced threats? Our findings reveal that, under normal conditions, conservatives show greater variety seeking than liberals. Yet, during crisis-induced threats, conservatives decrease their variety seeking, whereas liberals increase theirs. These results complement existing studies that, using lab experiments and surveys, have identified various mechanisms––oftentimes competing––that influence variety seeking. We advance this work with externally validated and robust empirical evidence on how consumers’ variety seeking behaviors change substantially during crisis-induced threats versus normal conditions. These insights provide retail practitioners with marketing-relevant insights and strategies, tailored to the political composition of their consumer base, that can enhance their crisis preparedness and responses.

An SGX-based online voting protocol with maximum voter privacy

Electronic voting (E-voting), a crucial method in modern society, balances efficiency with the need for equity, reliability, and privacy to accurately record votes and maintain democracy. However, there is the challenge of potential leakage of voting information in scenarios where administrators of voting system may act maliciously. Moreover, contemporary collaborative counting methods face a significant increase in the cost of storage and heightened communication overhead in large-scale e-voting. In response, this paper proposes an innovative online voting protocol that integrates Intel SGX, homomorphic encryption, and zero-knowledge proof. This protocol aims to cut down the cost of communication and storage while maximizing the protection of voter privacy. The protocol relies on SGX to provide a trusted execution environment for the voting process, guarding against malicious attacks from external software or high-privileged administrators. In the proposed protocol, voters apply homomorphic encryption algorithms to locally encrypt their ballots, no longer relying on other entities (such as the voting system or SGX) for encryption. Then the encrypted ballots are submitted to SGX to mitigate the threat of data leakage in SGX. Through the adoption of zero-knowledge proof technology, the voting protocol can verify the legitimacy of votes without revealing their content. The proposed solution introduces the SGXVOT architecture, comprising two enclaves – Enclave V responsible for tallying individual encrypted votes, and Enclave T responsible for decrypting and publishing voting results. This design ensures that individual voters’ ballots remain in ciphertext, preserving the confidentiality of votes and voter privacy. Additionally, the protocol incorporates a “One-Time Pad” encryption communication protocol to guarantee the confidentiality of communication messages between Enclave V and Enclave T. The thorough security analysis and performance evaluation demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed solution in terms of security, practicality, and scalability.

Дистанционное электронное голосование: опыт применения в России и за рубежом

The purpose of the article is to study the use of remote electronic voting (DEG) in Russia and a number of foreign countries that have been using this innovative technology for a long period of time during local and national elections (Estonia and Switzerland), as well as those who refused to use it (Germany) due to various political risks. The cases of four countries (Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Estonia) are considered. The study is conducted using the case study method, which allowed us to identify the positive and negative sides of online voting, identify and propose ways to prevent both obvious and potential political risks associated with the widespread use of DEG in practice. Comparative studies are among the auxiliary tools for comprehensive coverage and analysis of the issues under consideration, which made it possible to compare the forms of DEG, their organizational and legal support in Russian and foreign legislation. The theoretical significance of the study is determined by the results of a comprehensive analysis obtained during an excursion into the history of the testing of DEG and the forecast of its further use both in Russia and abroad, structuring the stages of application during elections of various scales, making this method of expressing the will of voters legally binding, or limiting or prohibiting its use both domestically and abroad. for compatriots living abroad. The practical significance of the work consists in offering effective ways of public control over the course of the DEG, which will contribute to increasing confidence in the results of online voting. The authors propose the gradual introduction of DEG and only in regions capable of providing high-quality technical equipment and the possibility of public control over both voting and vote counting. The voter should have the opportunity to vote using a paper ballot in case he changes his mind and decides to express his will in the traditional way, even on the day of voting. Using the example of the cases of four states in which this technology was used with varying degrees of intensity, the authors conclude that it is necessary to use an inclusive (i.e. open) the DEG model and its various modifications (for example, such as the electoral blockchain), so that potential mobile voters have no doubts about the transparency of this method of expressing their will and the ability to track the cast vote at any stage of the electoral process, which will contribute not only to legitimizing the results obtained, but also to increasing confidence in the electoral system as a whole.

Steatotic Liver Disease: New Nomenclature and Its Localization in the Russian Federation

Aim: localization of the new nomenclature of steatotic liver disease in Russian clinical practice.Key points. In 2023, international consensus decided to introduce a new nomenclature for steatotic liver disease. The article discusses the reasons for the change in nomenclature and the new terms adopted: steatotic liver disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, metabolic dysfunction and alcohol associated steatotic liver disease. Adapting new terms to Russian healthcare poses a certain problem. The results of voting by Russian doctors on the introduction of new terms and their optimal translation are presented. A comparison of existing classifiers with new terms was carried out and the formulation of diagnoses was discussed taking into account the new nomenclature.Conclusions. Adaptation and implementation of new nomenclature into clinical practice is an important and complex task, in which it is necessary to maintain a balance between a progressive concept and the interests of practical healthcare.

Resolution of Disputes Over The Regional Head Elections Post The Constitutional Court Decision Number 85/PUUXX/2022 Regarding The Implementation of Simultaneous Regional Elections in Indonesia

Constitutional Court Decision Number 97/PUU-XI/2013 which in its consideration states that the Constitutional Court cannot add authority that is not contained in the 1945 Constitution, so that the Constitutional Court Decision Number 85/PUU-XX/2022 remains conditional Constitutional authority considering The Lawmakers also did not draft a special law as intended in the Constitutional Court Decision Number 97/PUU-XI/2013. The problems are (1) What are the implications of the Constitutional Court Decision No. 97/PUU-IX/2013 after the enactment of Law no. 10 of 2016 concerning the Election of Regional Heads on the Implementation of Regional Elections in Indonesia?; (2) What is the impact of resolving regional election disputes after the Constitutional Court Decision No. 85/PUU-XX/2022?; (3) What is the ideal institutional model for resolving setbacks in regional head election results? To answer this problem, a comprehensive study is needed, namely examining the 1945 Constitution, Law N0.10 of 2016, Constitutional Court Decision Number 7273/PUU-II/2004, Constitutional Court Decision Number 97/PUU-XI/ 2013, Constitutional Court Decision Number 85/PUU-XX/2022. Research Results: (1) The authority to examine and decide on the voting results of regional head elections is carried out as long as there is no special court, in order to provide legal certainty in resolving disputes over the results of simultaneous regional heads in 2024. (2) Look at the stages of regional head elections that have been advanced and have not yet been brought forward. (3) Model The ideal institution for resolving disputes over regional head election results must be a special ad hoc judicial body.

Empirical study on voting results and proxy advisor recommendations in Japan

This study examines the relationship between proxy advisory firms’ recommendations and investors’ voting behavior in Japan, where corporate governance has been under transition. Based on 1,025 shareholder meeting proposals and recommendations by proxy advisory firms in Japan between March 2010 and March 2022, multivariate regression analyses reveal that the dissenting recommendations of the two main proxy advisory firms are negatively correlated with the approval rate of proposals, as well as the percentage of affirmative votes cast by institutional investors. Furthermore, the institutional investors’ behavior is more consistent with the recommendations of proxy advisory firms than that of other investors.