This research both develops new methods and expands upon existing methodologies in order to improve our understanding of voting patterns and party competition in Britain. The thesis comprises five sections, each of which relates to a particular research focus. The first and principal section describes the process of determining a new method for decomposing electoral bias for three-party competition under simple plurality rules of voting. The study of electoral bias is important for voting systems that requires periodic boundary reviews intended to equalise electorate and to remove malapportionment. These papers describe both the process for developing the threeparty bias method and later its application to UK general elections from 1983 onwards. The second section uses aggregate data gathered for the elections to the Greater London Authority in order to understand the patterns of electoral support across the capital, particularly support for minor parties. A considerable amount of research effort has been expended upon providing reliable models for electoral forecasting both in the UK and elsewhere. The third section includes a paper that develops a forecast model that utilises aggregate local election data to estimate national vote shares for the three main parties in the UK. A fourth section brings together a series of papers that are linked by the themes of voter behaviour, either in terms of geographical or ballot context. A study of voter turnout in a London borough describes the relationship between proximity to polling station and electoral turnout at different types of election. A 8 number of papers included in this section also detail the effects of candidate ballot order on electoral support. The fifth and final section groups together two papers that using individual-level survey data to describe the pattern of candidate recruitment for local elections in Britain and, specifically, the under-recruitment of both women and Black, Asian and other minority ethnic candidates.

This work is concerned with five problems in combinatorics. In Josephus problem, people are standing in a circle or in a row and every q-th is executed until only one person remains. We show how to find the survivor, and discuss the generalization when each person has more lives. In Tower of Hanoi, we study the numbers and properties of moves necessary to transport the tower from one rod to another, where the total number of rods is either three or four. We mention related problems with restrictions on the legal moves. In ménage problem, we calculate the number of seatings of couples around a table such that men and women alternate and nobody sits next to his or her partner. We also discuss permutations with restricted positions and rook polynomials. In ballot problem, we consider two candidates competing against each other and calculate the probability that, throughout the count, the first candidate always had more votes than k times the number of votes of the second one; we also mention the relation to Catalan numbers. In Kirkman's schoolgirl problem, the task is to find a weekly schedule for fifteen girls walking daily out in triads so that no two go together more than once. We also discuss the social golfer problem and Schurig's tables.

The essay focuses on the newly discovered findings that the distribution of preferences votes across candidate’s guides the political parties decisions on candidate promotions and helps shape the ballot list for the next election. Preference votes have therefore an indirect effect on candidate’s future political career. The aim of the essay is to supplement the existing research on the subject by analysing how the effect differs between candidates with different backgrounds. This due to the fact that candidates with foreign background are underrepresented in Swedish political assemblies and where previous research has showed that one explanation is the existence of discrimination in the political parties. It is therefore interesting to investigate whether the political parties reward candidates with different background for their share of preference votes to the same extent. The essay searches to do so by examining the correlation between candidate’s share of preference votes in the municipal council election in 2010 and the same candidates ballot list placement in the municipal council election in 2014. The essay finds that the there is no significant difference in effect between candidates with different background. Despite this, the results provide some support that preference votes is particular important for candidates with foreign background.

Dans cette thèse, nous proposons des modèles pour évaluer les performances des applications multimédias temps-réel. De plus, nous proposons un modèle pour les protocoles de type AIMD. Le premier sujet étudié est un mécanisme de correction d'erreurs (FEC). Premièrement, nous utilisons une file d attente M/M/1/K pour modéliser le réseau. Nous considérons que la qualité de la voix varie linéairement par rapport au taux de redondance de la FEC. La redondance du i-ème paquet est portée dans le paquet i+f. Notre analyse montre que, même pour le cas f->inf, ce mécanisme n'améliore pas la qualité de l'audio. Deuxièmement, nous modélisons notre système par une file M/G/1/K. Nous considérons deux aspects qui peuvent contribuer à améliorer la qualité de l'audio: (a) multiplexer l'audio avec un flux exogène, et (b) des fonctions d'utilité non-linéaires. Sous ces contraintes, on montre qu il est possible d'améliorer la qualité de l'audio avec la méthode FEC étudiée. Le deuxième sujet traité concerne les mécanismes de contrôle du délai de diffusion. Nous proposons un ensemble d'algorithmes de moyenne mobile permettant de contrôler le taux de pertes dans une session audio. Les performances de nos algorithmes ont été évaluées et comparées grâce à des traces réelles. Le troisième sujet abordé concerne les protocoles de type AIMD. Nous proposons un modèle analytique, prenant en compte la variabilité du délai. Notre modèle utilise des équations de différences stochastiques. Il fournit une expression close pour le débit et pour la taille de la fenêtre. Nous montrons, par analyse et par simulation, qu'une augmentation de la variabilité du délai améliore les performances d'un protocole AIMD.

Large-scale voting usability problems have changed the outcomes of several recent elections. The 2006 election in Sarasota County, Florida was one such incident, where the number of votes lost was nearly 50 times greater than the margin of victory for the US Representative race. Multiple hypotheses were proposed to explain this incident, with prevailing theories focused on malicious software, touchscreen miscalibration or poor ballot design, Study I aimed to empirically determine whether Sarasota voters unintentionally skipped the critical US Representative race due to poor ballot design. The Sarasota ballot was replicated initially, then header highlighting and number of races presented on the first screen were manipulated. While the presentation of multiple races had a significant effect on undervotes in the US Representative race, header highlighting did not. Nearly 20% of all voters (27 of 137) skipped the race their first time on that screen, an even greater undervote rate than that originally seen in Sarasota. In conjunction with other research, Study I results strongly suggests that the 2006 Sarasota election was almost certainly a human factors problem. A cognitive model of human voters was developed based on Study I data. Model predictions were then compared with behavioral data from Study 2, in which participants voted on a replica of the Charlotte County, Florida 2006 ballot.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed September 19 , 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study examines the current situation regarding e-voting in four selected European countries as well as whether Sweden can implement e-voting and achieve success. With the help of a literature study, the study defines the advantages and disadvantages of e-voting and the traditional voting procedure and through a case study, the current situation is identified by the selected European countries and an interview is conducted to gain an insight into the Swedish voting procedure and where Sweden stands when it comes to e-voting. By analyzing the interview and doing a comparative analysis of the key factors that affected the failure or success of e-voting in the selected countries with the key factors identified in Sweden, the result will be clear whether an implementation in Sweden can be successful or not. / Denna studie undersöker den nuvarande situationen gällande e-röstning i fyra valda europeiska länder samt om Sverige kan implementera e-röstning och nå framgång. Med hjälp av en litteraturstudie definierar studien för- och nackdelarna med e-röstning samt det traditionella röstningsförfarandet och genom en fallstudie identifieras den nuvarande situationen av dom valda europeiska länderna samt att en intervju utförs för att få en inblick av det svenska röstningsförfarandet samt vart Sverige står när det gäller e-röstning. Genom att analysera intervjun och göra en jämförelseanalys av nyckelfaktorerna som påverkat misslyckandet eller framgången av e-röstning i dom valda länderna med dom nyckelfaktorerna som identifierats i Sverige kommer resultatet vara tydligt om en implementering i Sverige hade nått framgång eller inte.

This diploma thesis deals with the rating scales, which are widely used in the attitude measurement, namely with the impact of their length (number of scale points) on measurement, both in terms of cognitive processes in the minds of respondents and impact on the data. Hypotheses, formulated on the basis of the literature and tested using data obtained from a split ballot experiment and cognitive interviews, are related to the comparability of results, distribution of responses and task demands. The Net Promoter Score from the environment of market research, expressing respondent's willingness to recommend a service or company used, is used as an application example. It originally uses 0 to 10 eleven-point scale which is here compared to five-point scale from 1 to 5 using various recoding and rescaling techniques. Analysis shows that rating on eleven-point and five-point scales means two different cognitive tasks for respondents (eleven-point scale is a bit more demanding but more accurate in respondents perception) and that the data differ from each other in terms of distribution of responses - on short range scale, midpoint and extreme positive category are selected more often, while on eleven-point scale, milder positive points are used more often.

This research explains the variance in voter turnout and ballot roll-off in county and circuit nonpartisan judicial elections in Florida from 2014 and 2016. Based on theory, a collection of constituent (demographic and socioeconomic), candidate, competition, and contextual variables is gathered to construct four regression models. Two full regression models were constructed for turnout and roll-off and analyzed using SPSS software, in addition to two best regression models analyzing five statistically significant variables found within each full model. Presidential year elections and higher populations age 65 and up had positive impacts on voter turnout, while primary elections, campaign expenditures, and populations of minor (other) party registered voters had statistically significant negative effects on turnout. Increases in ballot roll-off were associated with presidential year elections, and populations with more college degrees, higher median household income, and higher percentages of voters registered with no party affiliation or minor political parties. Roll-off decreased in primary elections. While various contextual, competition, and constituent variables had significant impact on both turnout and roll-off in Florida judicial elections, candidate characteristic variables had no significant impact on differences in voter turnout and ballot roll-off.

Les sceaux de plomb sont des artefacts relativement inconnus mais très importants comme sources d’information sur les textiles et leur consommation aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Ces étiquettes en plomb souvent attachées aux textiles ont servi comme indicateurs de qualité, de possession et de paiement des impôts sur ces textiles et autres biens commerciaux. Trouvés sur plusieurs sites archéologiques en Amérique du Nord, ces sceaux sont des indicateurs des origines éuropéennes des textiles ainsi que des réseaux marchands nécessaires pour les transporter vers la Nouvelle-France, un espace colonial fort dépendant de la métropole. Cette étude vise à découvrir de nouveaux détails sur les formes de consommation textile uniques de trois sites différents par leur localisation, leurs fonctions et leur population en utilisant les sceaux de plomb qui s’y trouvent. Les sceaux de trois sites français de l’époque coloniale seront examinés; le fort Saint-Joseph (Niles, MI), fort Ticonderoga (à Ticonderoga, NY, aussi connu sur le nom de fort Carillon) et la forteresse de Louisbourg (Louisbourg, NÉ). / Lead seals are relatively unknown artifacts, but are important as sources of information concerning textiles and their consumption in the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries. These lead tags were often attached to textiles and were proof of quality, ownership, and payment of taxes on textiles and other commercial goods. Found at many archaeological sites in North America, these seals are indicators of the European origins of imported textiles as well as merchant networks needed in order to transport them to New France, a colonial territory that was very dependent on the metropole. This study aims to discover new details concerning the unique consumption patterns present as three sites with different functions, locations, and populations, using the lead seals found at these sites. Seals from three French sites from the colonial period will be examined; Fort St. Joseph (Niles, MI), Fort Ticonderoga (Ticonderoga, NY, also known as Fort Carillon), and Fortress Louisbourg (Louisbourg, NS).