Revisiting Local Campaign Effects: An Experiment Involving Literature Mail Drops in the 2007 Ontario Election

An invariant feature of constituency election campaigns is the literature mail drop, usually a one-page leaflet or card left at the door profiling the candidate and appealing for electoral support. In this article, we report on a field experiment designed to assess the effects of such mail drops. The experiment was conducted during the 2007 Ontario provincial election campaign in the constituency of Cambridge and entailed distributing literature for the Green party candidate in that constituency. After randomly assigning constituency polls to treatment and control groups, and delivering the Green candidate’s partisan literature only to the selected treatment group polls, we compared the candidate’s support levels in the treated polls with those in the control group. Our research detected a modest effect associated with the literature drop. The effect was largely limited to constituency neighbourhoods fitting at least part of the Green party’s traditional demographic, that is, those with higher than average socio-economic status

The 2007 Provincial Election and Electoral System Referendum in Ontario

Ontario’s general election in Oct. 10, 2007, was unprecedented for several reasons. The election was held on a date fixed by legislation and not one set by the premier or his caucus, something new to Ontario and relatively new to Canadian politics. Turnout declined to 53%, the lowest ever in Ontario history. The incumbent Liberals won a second consecutive majority government, something the party had not achieved since 1937. And finally, the election featured a referendum question that asked voters in Ontario to approve reforms to the electoral system, a proposal that was overwhelmingly rejected. This article explores each of the above-stated elements as they unfolded in the election

Conservative Populism, or Unpopular Liberalism? Review of the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election

Ontario’s general election on June 7, 2018, brought the Progressive Conservative party to government for the first time in the 21st Century. The PCs’ victory over the incumbent Liberals, however, reached this point despite much turmoil. Months before the election the party faced a crisis when its leader, Patrick Brown, resigned amid a scandal. The PC party hastily organized a leadership election that put Doug Ford at the helm, who then led the party to victory. The following election review traces these steps and looks at some dynamics that contributed to both the PC leadership vote and the overall result of the election. The PC leadership election is analyzed, providing evidence that Ford’s rise may reflect some of the populist sentiment that has gripped other democracies. The analysis then turns to the general election, focusing on media coverage and issue salience, particularly as they relate to the party leaders. Survey data are examined to build some explanatory vote-choice models, which shows that voters in the general election appeared less moved by populism than a desire to punish the Liberals

Injection seeded, diode pumped regenerative ring Nd:YAG amplifier for spaceborne laser ranging technology development

A small, all solid state, regenerative ring amplifier designed as a prototype for space application is discussed. Novel features include dual side pumping of the Nd:YAG crystal and a triangular ring cavity design which minimizes the number of optical components and losses. The amplifier is relatively small (3 ns round trip time) even though standard optical elements are employed. The ring regeneratively amplifies a 100 ps single pulse by approximately 10(exp 5) at a repetition rate of 10 to 100 Hz. The amplifier is designed to be injection seeded with a pulsed, 100 ps laser diode at 1.06 microns, but another Nd:YAG laser system supplying higher pulse energies was employed for laboratory experiment. This system is a prototype laser oscillator for the Geoscience Laser Ranging System (GLRS) platform. Results on measurements of beam quality, astigmatism, and gain are given

How to Win and Lose an Election: Campaign Dynamics of the 2011 Ontario Election

We review the 2011 Ontario general election, which reduced the incumbent Liberal party to a minority government. We place attention on campaign dynamics and issue salience

Triple Play: The Ontario 2014 General Election

The 2014 general election in Ontario was the third straight time when the opposition Progressive Conservative party was poised to win, only to find itself returned to the opposition benches. Part of the the incumbent Liberal party's victory certainly can be attributed to strategic choices of the party, positioning itself closer to where voters wanted them to be. However, there is also a case to be made that the PCs squandered their chance to form government. The following articles walks through some of the key points of the campaign, and the context within which it was held

Fiber Scanning Array for 3 Dimensional Topographic Imaging

We report on the design and development of a fiber optic scanning 3-D LIDAR employing a switched fiber array. This design distributes ns length laser pulses over a sample field, collects the return pulses, and assembles them into a 3-D image. This instrument is a reduced size version consisting of 35 beams, and will serve as a proof-of-principle demonstration for a planned 1000 beam instrument for Earth and planetary topographical missions

Mass spectrometry of B. subtilis CopZ: Cu(I)-binding and interactions with bacillithiol

CopZ from Bacillus subtilis is a well-studied member of the highly conserved family of Atx1-like copper chaperones. It was previously shown via solution and crystallographic studies to undergo Cu(I)-mediated dimerisation, where the CopZ dimer can bind between one and four Cu(I) ions. However, these studies could not provide information about the changing distribution of species at increasing Cu(I) levels. To address this, electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry using soft ionisation was applied to CopZ under native conditions. Data revealed folded, monomeric CopZ in apo- and Cu(I)-bound forms, along with Cu(I)-bound dimeric forms of CopZ at higher Cu(I) loading. Cu4(CopZ)2 was the major dimeric species at loadings >1 Cu(I)/CopZ, indicating the cooperative formation of the tetranuclear Cu(I)-bound species. As the principal low molecular weight thiol in B. subtilis, bacillithiol (BSH) may play a role in copper homeostasis. Mass spectrometry showed that increasing BSH led to a reduction in Cu(I)-bound dimeric forms, and the formation of S-bacillithiolated apo-CopZ and BSH adducts of Cu(I)-bound forms of CopZ, where BSH likely acts as a Cu(I) ligand. These data, along with the high affinity of BSH for Cu(I), determined here to be β2(BSH) = ∼4 × 1017 M−2, are consistent with a role for BSH alongside CopZ in buffering cellular Cu(I) levels. Here, mass spectrometry provides a high resolution overview of CopZ–Cu(I) speciation that cannot be obtained from less discriminating solution-phase methods, thus illustrating the potential for the wider application of this technique to studies of metal–protein interactions

Interrelationships between serum levels of amiodarone, desethylamiodarone, reverse T3 and the QT interval during long-term amiodarone treatment

The interrelationships between serum levels of amiodarone, desethylamiodarone, and reverse T3, and changes in the corrected QT interval ([Delta]QTc) were examined in 22 patients during long-term treatment with amiodarone. At 1, 3, and 6 months of follow-up, the correlation coefficient between serum levels of amiodarone or desethylamiodarone and reverse T3 ranged from 0.01 to -0.2 (p > 0.4). At the same time intervals, the correlation coefficient between both amiodarone and desethylamiodarone levels and [Delta]QTc ranged from 0.1 to -0.1 (p > 0.6), and the correlation coefficient between reverse T3 and [Delta]QTc also ranged between 0.1 to -0.1 (p> 0.5). Substituting percent [Delta]QTc for [Delta]QTc also did not reveal a significant correlation. These data demonstrate that serum levels of reverse T3 cannot be used as a substitute for serum levels of amiodarone in monitoring patients being treated with amiodarone. The absence of a correlation between serum reverse T3 levels and [Delta]QTc suggests that the delay in repolarization which occurs during amiodarone therapy is not secondary to an amiodarone-induced abnormality in thyroid hormone metabolism.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26433/1/0000521.pd