Voting for the winning party makes people happier with democracy, especially if the winning party is highly preferred

It is well established that voters are more likely to think highly of their political systems when they produce the outcomes that they wish to see, but what of those voters who, for a number of reasons, do not vote for their favoured party? Shane Singh shows that these voters are less likely to share in this satisfaction, owing to a number of factors including the policies and political outcomes that may result from the victory of a less favoured party

The success of populist radical right parties is not a result of heightened participation in politics by authoritarians

Across Europe, the populist right is surging, with UKIP in the UK, Jobbik in Hungary, and the Sweden Democrats amongst others making political weather across the continent. Shane P. Singh and Kris Dunn that their success has not been fuelled by an increase in participation by people or groups with authoritarian tendencies, but instead ‘but instead arises from a convergence in participation levels among non-authoritarians and authoritarians in settings of diversity’

Voters who support under-represented parties are more likely to express dissatisfaction with the political system

How does over and under-representation of political parties affect voter satisfaction with democracy? André Blais, Alexandre Morin-Chassé, and Shane P. Singh share research which shows that voters who support parties such as UKIP and the Green Party are less likely to express satisfaction with the political system as a whole, however voters who see their parties overrepresented by the system are likely to approve

Influence of Fiberboard Container Design on Compression Bulge Displacement

Bulge effect is the out-of-plane displacement of a panel of a corrugated fiberboard box from its original position. This bulge effect often is the result of excessive weight being placed on a box that rests at the bottom of a palletized load. Panels that are out-of-plane reduce the stacking strength of the box and can result in damage to products inside the containers. This study was designed to find the influence of fiberboard container design on its bulging performance when under compression. The objective of the study was to determine if change in height of a regular slotted container will affect the bulging performance in relation to different environmental conditions. For this study, a three heights were selected based on the market study of the natural produce sector and testing was conducted in accordance to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. All the samples were conditioned in accordance to ASTM and Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) standards. Data analysis for the three box heights suggests that compression bulge displacement may be affected in some scenarios

The importance of skin–to–skin contact for early initiation of breastfeeding in Nigeria and Bangladesh

Skin–to–skin contact (SSC) between mother and newborn offers numerous protective effects, however it is an intervention that has been under–utilized. Our objectives are to understand which newborns in Bangladesh and Nigeria receive SSC and whether SSC is associated with the early initiation of breastfeeding

Is compulsory voting a solution to low and declining turnout? : cross-national evidence since 1945

Published online: 25 November 2022Despite the substantial body of research on compulsory voting’s (CV) relationship with turnout, much remains unknown about the role of different types of CV rules, their enforcement, and their ability to prevent the secular turnout decline observed around the world. Moreover, existing studies that leverage changes to CV laws are limited to a single country. We assemble rich new data on voter turnout and electoral legislation that, we believe, include the most accurate and extensive cross-national measure of CV to date. We test three theoretically derived hypotheses: that CV enforcement matters for participation; that enforcement’s effect is conditioned by state capacity; and that, only when CV is enforced, will it mitigate voter turnout’s post-1970 tendency to decline. We find support for each. We also find that the nature of sanctions for non-voting is irrelevant for participation