The Borda count in n-dimensional issue space

We provide a natural extension of the Borda count to the n-dimensional spatial context, an algorithm to find the spatial Borda winner based on the notion of an inverse Borda count, the result that the Borda winner and the Condorcet winner coincide in unidimensional space when all alternatives on a line are feasible, results that show that in multi-dimensional space the Borda winner and the Condorcet winner (except under very implausible circumstances) will be distinct, and some results on the manipulability of outcomes under the Borda rule as a function of the domain of alternatives over which the Borda count is to be defined.The listing of authors is alphabetical. We are indebted to the staff of the Word Processing Center, School of Social Sciences, UCI, for typing, to Cheryl Larsson for preparation of figures, to Dorothy Gormick for bibliographic assistance, and to three anonymous referees for helpful suggestions. This research was supported by NSF Grant SES #85-06376, Decision and Management Sciences Program, to the second-named author.     

Majority rule outcomes and the structure of debate in one-issue-at-a-time decision-making

In many group decision-making situations, such as faculty hiring decisions, outcomes are often arrived at by deciding one issue at a time (e.g., first rank, then subfield). It is well known that procedures limiting votes to separate orthogonal dimensions always result in a unique outcome at the generalized median, the median of each separate issue dimension. Often, however, there is conflict within groups over what ought to be the relevant (orthogonal) dimensions within which choices will be made. We show that the way in which debate is structured (i.e., the way in which the dimensions of choice are specified) can have important consequences for what outcome gets chosen. However, we also show that the range of outcomes that could arise from alternative structurings of the decision process is bounded. These bounds are expressed relative to the yolk, a sphere located centrally in the Pareto set, whose existence was first noted by Tullock (1967: 262) and whose properties have recently been developed by McKelvey (1986) and Feld et al. (1987). We find that, in m orthogonal dimensions, the feasible outcomes must lie within % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaWaaOaaaeaaca% qGTbaaleqaaaaa!36F8!\[\sqrt {\text{m}} \] radii of the center of the yolk     

Adult Hirschsprung's disease diagnosed during forensic autopsy

We report a case of fatal Hirschsprung's disease (HD) discovered at autopsy. A 20-year-old man collapsed at home. Emergency medical personnel found him in cardiac arrest and all resuscitative efforts failed. He had a past history of chronic constipation since infancy. Forensic autopsy revealed a megacolon full of gas and stools. Microscopic examination showed absence of ganglion cells in a short segment of the rectum and enterocolitis in the left and transverse colon. HD is rarely described in adults. In many cases, patients complained of constipation since infancy but the affection remained misdiagnosed. The relative good tolerance of the disease is usually due to a short aganglionic bowel segment. Enterocolitis is a frequent and severe complication of HD in children but is rarely described in adults. This case suggests the importance of HD diagnosis in childhood in order to avoid fatal complications with forensic consequences.     

Tolerance and Law: From Islamic Culture to Islamist Ideology

Tolerance implies both renunciation and negotiation, concepts that assume truth as relative. The rationality of religious faith does not acknowledge the existence of a shared truth, but history reminds us that religions could be directed through their social representatives to engage in social realities. This had been the case with Islam, despite the existence of strong structuring of knowledge and the Ulemas who play a vital role in its control and reproduction.