scholarly journals 41Thyroid Cancers in Fukushima: Critical Review and Analysis of the 1st and 2nd Round Examination

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaka Hamaoka
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
Thyroid Malignancy ◽  
Radiation Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Interaction Terms ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Thyroid Dose ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background After the Fukushima–Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) disaster, thyroid ultrasound examination (TUE) has been performed in subjects who were aged ≤18 years. Previous studies reported controversial results. Through critical review, three limitations were identified: arbitrary grouping of 59 municipalities, 2) usage of region as proxy of dose, and 3) separate analyse of the 1st and 2nd round data. Methods To overcome these limitations, this study examined the relationship between radiation dose and the number of participants with thyroid malignancy, using publicly available municipality level data (N = 59). To analyse two wave screening data, multi-level random-effect Poisson regression model was applied. The number of participants with thyroid malignancy was explained by dose estimates. Interaction between dose and screening round dummy (0 for the 1st and 1 for the 2nd) was also introduced to take into account latency. Results Interaction terms between external dose (Akahane et al. 2013) and screening round dummy were positive and significant (β = 0.681, z = 2.05). Similar results were obtained for UNSCEAR estimated thyroid dose (UNSCEAR 2013) (β = 0.128, z = 2.24) and re-estimated thyroid dose (Suzuki et al. 2018) (β = 0.215, z = 2.42). Conclusions These robust results are consistent with the conjecture that the 1st round TUE is the “baseline” that will not correlated with radiation level and the 2nd round TUE detected thyroid cancer caused by radiation from Fukushima NPP that distributed heterogeneously among regions. Key messages This was an ecological study at the municipality level, the results should be examined with individual level data.

School variation in offending: A macro-level strain approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 701-722
Author(s):  
Julia Sandahl
Keyword(s):  
School Level ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Confounding Effect ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Violent Offending ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This study employs Macro-level Strain Theory (MST) as a framework to provide a better understanding of the way in which the structural and social context of Stockholm schools covaries with self-reported violent and general offending. The findings contribute to the literature in this area by directing a special focus at the interplay between the theory’s macro-level components and some individual-level mechanisms that may be assumed to condition the effect of strain on offending. Using multi-level data on 4789 students nested in 82 schools (violent offending) and 4643 students nested in 83 schools (general offending) in the City of Stockholm, the study notes significant contextual effects of anger, meaninglessness and life dissatisfaction on offending. School-level deprivation appears to have a confounding effect on the relationship between school-contextual negative affect and offending. Further, school-contextual anger influences some individuals more than others. Implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals The Economic Pay-Offs to Informal Training: Evidence from Routine Service Work

ILR Review ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangmin Liu ◽  
Rosemary Batt
Keyword(s):  
Job Performance ◽  
Electronic Monitoring ◽  
Supervisor Training ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Telephone Operators ◽  
Productivity Gains ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Informal Training

This study examines the relationship between informal training and job performance among 2,803 telephone operators in a large unionized U.S. telecommunications company. The authors analyze individual-level data on monthly training hours and job performance over a five-month period in 2001 as provided by the company's electronic monitoring system. The results indicate that the receipt of informal training was associated with higher productivity over time, when unobserved individual heterogeneity is taken into account. Workers with lower pre-training proficiency showed greater improvements over time than did those with higher pre-training proficiency. Finally, whether the trainer was a supervisor or a peer also mattered: workers with below-average pre-training proficiency achieved greater productivity gains through supervisor training, while workers with average pre-training proficiency achieved greater productivity gains through peer training.

Membership in Party Organizations and the Problem of Decline of Parties

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
PER SELLE ◽  
LARS SVÅSAND
Keyword(s):  
Party Identification ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Party Decline ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Different Levels

This article questions assumptions in the literature dealing with party decline. First, European aggregate membership data do not support a general conclusion of party decline. Second, individual-level data for Norway demonstrate the complexities of the relationship between membership, party identification, activity in parties, and membership stability. Third, we discuss societal changes commonly associated with party decline, such as the rise of corporatism, the new political movements, and the rise of the electronic media. The aurthors argue that these developments change the structural position of parties (external) and the relationship between different levels of the party organization itself (internal). While such developments may lead to party decline, they also give party organizations new political maneuverability. Furthermore, the growth of new parties, the politicization of new arenas, and the nationalization of party apparatuses counteract the factors associated with party decline.

scholarly journals Local Political Context and Polarization in the Electorate: Evidence from the 2004 Presidential Election

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 21-45
Author(s):  
George Hawley
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Major Party ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Relationship

Political scientists have long examined the degree to which the American electorate exhibits partisan and ideological polarization and sought to explain the causal mechanism driving this phenomenon. Some scholars have argued that there is an increasing degree of geographic polarization of the electorate—that is, a large percentage of geographic units are becoming less politically heterogeneous. In this study, I argue that the two trends are related. Using individual-level data from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey, I examine the relationship between local partisan context and political attitudes using multilevel models. I find that, as the local political context becomes less competitive in national elections; those in the local political majority become more ideologically extreme, strengthen their partisan attachments, and hold more polarized attitudes toward the two major-party presidential candidates. These findings suggest that the growing geo- graphic partisan segregation of the electorate is an important source of ideological and partisan polarization.

Smartphones and Their Increased Importance in U.S. Presidential Elections

2019 ◽  
pp. 1203-1223
Author(s):  
Ramona Sue McNeal ◽  
Mary Schmeida ◽  
Lisa Dotterweich Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Multivariate Regression Analysis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Early researchers had predicted that the Internet might help to encourage political participation through its ability to make political information more accessible. Unfortunately, disparities in Internet access made it unlikely that the Internet would have much of an impact on voter turnout. Telecommunication technology has evolved and among these new advances is smartphones, which help to increase Internet access. The purpose of this chapter is to examine this argument by exploring the relationship between smartphone ownership and voting. This topic is explored using multivariate regression analysis and individual level data from the 2012 American National Election Studies. Findings suggest that smartphones are helping to increase voter turnout through their ability to facilitate other online activities such as visiting candidate websites and taking part in political discussion through social networking sites.

Smartphones and their Increased Importance in U.S. Presidential Elections

2017 ◽  
pp. 283-303
Author(s):  
Ramona Sue McNeal ◽  
Mary Schmeida ◽  
Lisa Dotterweich Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Multivariate Regression Analysis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Early researchers had predicted that the Internet might help to encourage political participation through its ability to make political information more accessible. Unfortunately, disparities in Internet access made it unlikely that the Internet would have much of an impact on voter turnout. Telecommunication technology has evolved and among these new advances is smartphones, which help to increase Internet access. The purpose of this chapter is to examine this argument by exploring the relationship between smartphone ownership and voting. This topic is explored using multivariate regression analysis and individual level data from the 2012 American National Election Studies. Findings suggest that smartphones are helping to increase voter turnout through their ability to facilitate other online activities such as visiting candidate websites and taking part in political discussion through social networking sites.

Party organizational change and leader effects on voting behavior: Linking the electoral and party faces of presidentialization

2019 ◽  
pp. 135406881989351
Author(s):  
Frederico Ferreira da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Contextual Data ◽  
Selection Procedures ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Leadership Elections ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Democracies

Changes in electoral markets in the late 20th century have forced political parties to adapt. Having lost much support and facing growing disaffection, parties often resorted to organizational structure reforms as means to reengage with a debased electorate. This article explores the impact of two changes in party organization—democratization of leadership selection procedures and increasing leadership power—on the extent to which leaders have an effect on voting behavior. In doing so, it analyzes the understudied interconnection between the electoral and the party faces of the presidentialization of politics thesis. The results provide mixed evidence regarding the relationship between both dimensions of presidentialization: more leadership power boosts leader effects, but only non-divisive direct leadership elections favor leader effects. This is a comparative study on Western democracies, combining individual-level data from the Comparative of Study of Electoral Systems with contextual data from the Political Party Database Project.

scholarly journals Cognitive Habits Linked to Resilience: Surprising Commonalities across the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Interaction Terms ◽  
Life Challenges ◽  
Appraisal Processes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Abstract: Background: Research has documented many geographic inequities in health. Research has also documented that the way one thinks about health and quality of life (QOL) affects one’s experience of health, treatment, and one’s ability to cope with health problems. Purpose: We examined United-States (US) regional differences in QOL appraisal (i.e., the way one thinks about health and QOL), and whether resilience-appraisal relationships varied by region. Methods: Secondary analysis of 3,955 chronic-disease patients and caregivers assessed QOL appraisal via the QOL Appraisal Profile-v2 and resilience via the Centers for Disease Control Healthy Days Core Module. Covariates included individual-level and aggregate-level socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics. Zone improvement plan (ZIP) code was linked to publicly available indicators of income inequality, poverty, wealth, population density, and rurality. Multivariate and hierarchical residual modeling tested study hypotheses that there are regional differences in QOL appraisal and in the relationship between resilience and appraisal. Results: After sociodemographic adjustment, QOL appraisal patterns and the appraisal-resilience connection were virtually the same across regions. For resilience, sociodemographic variables explained 26 % of the variance; appraisal processes, an additional 17 %; and region and its interaction terms, just an additional 0.1 %. Conclusion: The study findings underscore a geographic universality across the contiguous US in how people think about QOL, and in the relationship between appraisal and resilience. Despite the recent prominence of divisive rhetoric suggesting vast regional differences in values, priorities, and experiences, our findings support the commonality of ways of thinking and responding to life challenges. These findings support the wide applicability of cognitive-based interventions to boost resilience

Labor Unions and Voter Turnout in the American States: Direct Versus Indirect Mobilization

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Gidong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Labor Unions ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
State Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
American States ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Level Analysis ◽  
Aggregate Strength

Abstract I examine the relationship between labor unions and voter turnout in the American states. Though it is well known that unions increase turnout directly, we know less about their indirect effects. Moreover, the indirect effects may consist of nonmember mobilization and aggregate strength. To examine the direct and indirect mechanisms, I analyze both state-level panel data and individual-level data with a multilevel approach. First, my panel analysis shows that unions are positively associated with turnout as expected. Yet, the association is observed only in midterm elections, but not in presidential elections. Second, more importantly, my individual-level analysis suggests that indirect nonmember mobilization and indirect aggregate strength are positively related to turnout, while direct member mobilization is not. The findings imply that the direct effects are limited and, thus, that decreasing levels of voter turnout due to recently declining union membership come primarily from indirect mobilization rather than direct mobilization.

scholarly journals Patterns and Predictors of Tic Suppressibility in Youth with Tic Disorders

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Conelea ◽  
Brianna Wellen BA ◽  
Douglas W. Woods ◽  
Deanna J. Greene ◽  
Kevin J. Black ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variability ◽  
Tic Disorders ◽  
Tic Disorder ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Tic Suppression ◽  
Premonitory Urge ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Medication Status

AbstractBackground: Tic suppression is the primary target of tic disorder treatment, but factors that influence voluntary tic inhibition are not well understood. Several studies using the Tic Suppression Task have demonstrated significant inter-individual variability in tic suppressibility but have individually been underpowered to address correlates of tic suppression. The present study explored patterns and clinical correlates of tic suppression in youth with tic disorders using a large, pooled dataset.Methods: Individual-level data from 9 studies using the Tic Suppression Task were pooled, yielding a sample of 99 youth with tic disorders. Analyses examined patterns of tic suppressibility and the relationship between tic suppressibility and demographic and clinical characteristics.Results: A large majority of youth demonstrated a high degree of tic suppression, but heterogeneous patterns of tic suppressibility were also observed. Better tic suppressibility was related to older age and more frequent tics but unrelated to other clinical variables, including presence of psychiatric comorbidity, psychotropic medication status, and tic and premonitory urge severity.Conclusions: The mechanisms underlying the observed heterogeneity in tic suppressibility warrant further investigation. The Tic Suppression Task is a promising method for testing mechanistic hypotheses related to tic suppression.

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