The two faces of gender-fair language

This research project sheds light on gender-fair language and its possible effects on cognition. There already exists a large body of evidence, showing that the masculine form used as a generic yields a cognitive male bias (see Stahlberg et al., 2007, for an overview). Regarding the mental representation, the use of gender-fair language forms, which explicitly address men and women, such as word pairs, is hence desirable, as they are thought to support gender-equality. However, there lacks evidence of the effects of gender-fair language on other cognitive processes, which are related to gender-equality. First studies have shown, that gender-fair language can also have negative effects, hampering women’s persuasiveness (Mucchi-Faina & Barro, 2001) and lowering females’ likelihood to be hired (Formanowicz et al., 2012). On this background I aimed to investigate more deeply both the beneficial and possibly harmful effects of gender-fair forms, and to revise linguistic alternatives. Firstly, I provide a general overview of the close association of language and cognition, with an excursion into grammar, explaining the various degrees of gender-markedness in languages and the linguistic alternatives to the masculine form used as a generic. I review the already existing studies, investigating the effects of gender-fair language and give a short overview of recent language policies, shading particularly light on language reforms and the situation of gender-fair language in Italy. In Chapter 1 I then present findings, suggesting that females’ motivation to apply for a job is higher, when the job is advertised in word pairs as compared to masculine forms. This supports the hypothesis of gender-fair language yielding a greater mental representation of women. In Chapter 2 I examine if gender-fair suffices can evoke shifting standards in judgment. Here, results remained rather unclear, demonstrating diametral effects in Studies 2a & 2b. This issue has hence to be investigated more deeply by future studies. Chapter 3 deals with the question of whether suffices can make gender salient, and if so, how they affect self- and ingroup-stereotyping. In Study 4 (Chapter 4) both negative and positive effects of gender-fair language were investigated, for the first time, with the same methodologies and within a single paradigm. Results impressively show that gender-fair language has indeed two faces, enhancing women’s visibility, but hampering the perception of status of professional groups. As a consequence, Chapter 5 examines possible alternatives and solutions for this pay-off. Here I propose the use of neutralizations, as, in contrast to splitting-forms (see Chapter 3), they were found not to accentuate self-stereotyping in women and men (Study 5a). In three studies (Studies 5b to 5d) I then shed light on feminine generics. I hypothesized that the acceptability of feminine forms as generics, referring to a group of women and men, depends on the position of a male target in a group of females. Findings supported this idea, showing that phrases with feminine generics are grammatically more acceptable when the male target is positioned in distance to the feminine form. Study 5f illustrates that the status loss of women can be avoided by accurately choosing gender-fair language forms. This study provided evidence, that the symmetry of feminine suffices counts. Women described by feminine professional titles with asymmetrical endings (e.g., l’avvocatessa, the lawyer, fem.) were attributed significantly less social status than women who were referred to by titles with a symmetrical suffix (e.g., l’avvocata). The latter were judged as comparable in status to the masculine professional title (e.g., l’avvocato). So, symmetrical feminine forms may shield women against both, invisibility and status loss. In Chapter 6 I review all findings and discuss their limitations and their implications in terms of gender-equality. I argue that caution is needed when introducing new language policies and that policy makers ought to differentiate more cautiously, which linguistic strategies can genuinely support gender-equality, neither making women invisible nor being a peril for their social status

Insights into the Pathogenesis of Anaplastic Large-Cell Lymphoma through Genome-wide DNA Methylation Profiling.

Aberrant DNA methylation patterns in malignant cells allow insight into tumor evolution and development and can be used for disease classification. Here, we describe the genome-wide DNA methylation signatures of NPM-ALK-positive (ALK+) and NPM-ALK-negative (ALK-) anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). We find that ALK+ and ALK- ALCL share common DNA methylation changes for genes involved in T cell differentiation and immune response, including TCR and CTLA-4, without an ALK-specific impact on tumor DNA methylation in gene promoters. Furthermore, we uncover a close relationship between global ALCL DNA methylation patterns and those in distinct thymic developmental stages and observe tumor-specific DNA hypomethylation in regulatory regions that are enriched for conserved transcription factor binding motifs such as AP1. Our results indicate similarity between ALCL tumor cells and thymic T cell subsets and a direct relationship between ALCL oncogenic signaling and DNA methylation through transcription factor induction and occupancy.G.E. was funded by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) (P 27616 and V 102). M.R.H. was supported by a L’Oréal for Women in Science grant. S.D.T. receives funding from Bloodwise (formerly Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research). L.K. has been funded by the FWF (P 26011 and P 29251), as well as the MSCA-ITN-2015-ETN ALKATRAS (No. 675712). D.J.W. is a paid consultant for Zymo Research Corporation.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier (Cell Press) via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.01

Deformation Mechanisms, Microstructures, and Seismic Anisotropy of Wadsleyite in the Earth's Transition Zone

Wadsleyite is the dominant mineral of the upper portion of the Earth's mantle transition zone (MTZ). As such, understanding plastic deformation of wadsleyite is relevant for the interpretation of observations of seismic signals from this region in terms of mantle flow. Despite its relevance, however, the deformation mechanisms of wadsleyite and their effects on microstructures and anisotropy are still poorly understood. Here, we present the results of new deformation experiments on polycrystalline wadsleyite at temperatures of 1400–1770 K and pressures between 12.3 and 20.3 GPa in the laser-heated diamond anvil cell. We rely on multigrain X-ray crystallography to follow the evolution of individual grain orientations and extract lattice preferred orientations at the sample scale at different steps of the experiments. A comparison of experimental results of our work and the literature with polycrystal plasticity simulations, indicates that ⟨111⟩{101} is the most active slip system of dislocations in wadsleyite at all investigated conditions. Secondary slip systems such as [001](010), [100](001), and [100]{0kl}, however, play a critical role in the resulting microstructures and their activity depends on both temperature and water content, from which we extract an updated deformation map of wadsleyite at MTZ conditions. Lastly, we propose several seismic anisotropy models of the upper part of the MTZ, depending on temperature, geophysical context, and levels of hydration that will be useful for the interpretation of seismic signals from the MTZ in terms of mantle flow and water conten

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe

Search for Physics beyond the Standard Model in Events with Overlapping Photons and Jets

Results are reported from a search for new particles that decay into a photon and two gluons, in events with jets. Novel jet substructure techniques are developed that allow photons to be identified in an environment densely populated with hadrons. The analyzed proton-proton collision data were collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in 2016 at root s = 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The spectra of total transverse hadronic energy of candidate events are examined for deviations from the standard model predictions. No statistically significant excess is observed over the expected background. The first cross section limits on new physics processes resulting in such events are set. The results are interpreted as upper limits on the rate of gluino pair production, utilizing a simplified stealth supersymmetry model. The excluded gluino masses extend up to 1.7 TeV, for a neutralino mass of 200 GeV and exceed previous mass constraints set by analyses targeting events with isolated photons.Peer reviewe

Search for dark matter in events with a leptoquark and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

A search is presented for dark matter in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of root s= 13 TeV using events with at least one high transverse momentum (p(T)) muon, at least one high-p(T) jet, and large missing transverse momentum. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2016 and 2017, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 77.4 fb(-1). In the examined scenario, a pair of scalar leptoquarks is assumed to be produced. One leptoquark decays to a muon and a jet while the other decays to dark matter and low-p(T) standard model particles. The signature for signal events would be significant missing transverse momentum from the dark matter in conjunction with a peak at the leptoquark mass in the invariant mass distribution of the highest p(T) muon and jet. The data are observed to be consistent with the background predicted by the standard model. For the first benchmark scenario considered, dark matter masses up to 500 GeV are excluded for leptoquark masses m(LQ) approximate to 1400 GeV, and up to 300 GeV for m(LQ) approximate to 1500 GeV. For the second benchmark scenario, dark matter masses up to 600 GeV are excluded for m(LQ) approximate to 1400 GeV. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The second-order Fourier coefficients (v(2)) characterizing the azimuthal distributions of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons produced in PbPb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV are studied. The Y mesons are reconstructed in their dimuon decay channel, as measured by the CMS detector. The collected data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb(-1). The scalar product method is used to extract the v2 coefficients of the azimuthal distributions. Results are reported for the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar < 2.4, in the transverse momentum interval 0 < pT < 50 GeV/c, and in three centrality ranges of 10-30%, 30-50% and 50-90%. In contrast to the J/psi mesons, the measured v(2) values for the Y mesons are found to be consistent with zero. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe