Explaining Populist Attitudes: The Impact of Policy Discontent and Representation

Recently, scholars of populism have increasingly started to theorise and capture susceptibility to populism at the individual level. Most of these studies, however, focus on the consequences of populist attitudes on political behaviour. Less attention has been paid to the question of which citizens have high levels of populist attitudes and why. While some scholars argue that populist attitudes more resemble an unchangeable personality trait, meaning that individuals may be more or less populist, others argue that it is a response to outside grievances or discontent. The latter suggests that levels of populist attitudes are dynamic and may change if grievances are addressed (or remain unaddressed). We contribute to this literature by asking how discontent fuelled by unfulfilled policy preferences affects the level of populist attitudes. Following the conception of populism as a thin-centred ideology, we argue that high levels of populist attitudes are not connected with certain issues per se. Rather, our argument is that people are more populist when they feel poorly represented on policy issues that they care strongly about. This argument provides an explanation for the observation that even voters of non-populist parties sometimes show high levels of populist attitudes. We test the impact of policy discontent on populist attitudes using data from the GLES 2021 Pre-Election Cross Section survey by combining information on citizens’ issue specific discontent with the perceived salience of respective issues. The results are in line with our expectations: Individuals with higher policy discontent are more populist

Application of Artificial Neural Networks to Identify Equilibration in Computer Simulations

Determining which microstates generated by a thermodynamic simulation are representative of the ensemble for which sampling is desired is a ubiquitous, underspecified problem. Artificial neural networks are one type of machine learning algorithm that can provide a reproducible way to apply pattern recognition heuristics to underspecified problems. Here we use the open-source TensorFlow machine learning library and apply it to the problem of identifying which hypothetical observation sequences from a computer simulation are equilibrated and which are not. We generate training populations and test populations of observation sequences with embedded linear and exponential correlations. We train a two-neuron artificial network to distinguish the correlated and uncorrelated sequences. We find that this simple network is good enough for \u3e 98% accuracy in identifying exponentially-decaying energy trajectories from molecular simulations

NEURON SURVIVAL, AXON GROWTH AND THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR SRY-BOX CONTAINING GENE 11 (SOX11)

Developmental survival, axon growth and differentiation of sensory neurons are mediated through the actions of specific sets of transcriptional signaling complexes (Anderson, 1999). A newly recognized family of transcription factors that appear to have important roles in sensory neuron biology is the Sox family of high-mobility group (HMG) domain proteins. In a screen of transcriptional activity in transgenic animals that overexpress either NGF or GDNF in the skin (NGF-OE and GDNF-OE mice), the transcription factor Sox11 was significantly increased in developing neurons of the trigeminal ganglia. This increase suggests Sox11 expression is trophic factor sensitive and that it may contribute to the transcriptional control of genes involved in the increased survival and axonal projections that has been documented in these transgenic animals (Albers et al., 1994; Zwick et al., 2002). Sox11 was also increased in neurons of adult dorsal root ganglia (DRG) following sciatic nerve cut. The rise in Sox11 in response to enhanced trophic factor level and axotomy has led us to hypothesize that Sox11 is an essential transcriptional regulator in both embryonic and adult systems that is trophic factor responsive. To further investigate the role of Sox11 and begin to identify transcriptional targets, the level of Sox11 was assayed in the Neuro2A stem cell line (Klebe and Ruddle, 1969), primary dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and in vivo after nerve injury. Upon retinoic acid (RA)- induced differentiation of Neuro-2A cells and upon culturing DRG neurons, Sox11 mRNA increased, suggesting Sox11 was important for expression of genes involved in Neuro2A and primary DRG differentiation and survival. To test this, the level of Sox11 expression was knocked down in Neuro2A cells and cultured DRG neurons by transfection of siRNAs against Sox11. Knockdown of Sox11 in these cells caused cell death and inhibited axon growth. RNAi knockdown of Sox11 in vivo after a saphenous nerve crush injury also inhibited axon regeneration. These data suggest that the developmentally regulated transcription factor Sox11 is induced in adult neurons after injury to promote neurite growth and axon regeneration and inhibit apoptosis by regulating genes associated with each of these distinct biological pathways

Impact of heavy alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking on sperm DNA integrity

The purposes of the presents study were to investigate the impact of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking on semen parameters and sperm DNA quality, as well as to determine whether tobacco smoking, or alcohol consumption causes more deterioration of sperm quality. Two hundred and eleven semen samples of men were included in this study. Four groups were studied: heavy smokers (N = 48), heavy drinkers (N = 52), non-smokers (n = 70), and non-drinkers (n = 41). Semen parameters were determined according to WHO guidelines, protamine deficiency assessed by chromomycin (CMA3) staining, and sperm DNA fragmentation (sDF) evaluated by TUNEL assay. Sperm parameters were significantly higher in non-smokers versus smokers and in non-drinkers versus drinkers (p < 0.005). However, protamine deficiency and sDF were significantly lower in non-smokers versus smokers and in non-drinkers versus drinkers (p < 0.0001). No significant difference in the semen analysis parameters was observed between heavy smokers and heavy drinkers (semen volume: 3.20 ± 1.43 vs. 2.81 ± 1.56 ml, semen count: 65.75 ± 31.32 vs. 53.51 ± 32.67 mill/ml, total motility: 24.27 ± 8.18 vs. 23.75 ± 1.75%, sperm vitality: 36.15 ± 18.57 vs. 34.62 ± 16.65%, functional integrity: 41.56 ± 18.57 vs. 45.96 ± 17.98% and the morphologically normal spermatozoa: 28.77 ± 11.82 vs. 27.06 ± 13.13%, respectively). However, protamine deficiency was significantly higher among drinkers than smokers (37.03 ± 9.75 vs. 33.27 ± 8.56%, p = 0.020). The sDF was also significantly higher among drinkers than smokers (22.37 ± 7.60 vs. 15.55 ± 3.33%, p < 0.0001). Thus, cigarette smoking, and heavy alcohol intake can deteriorate sperm quality. However, alcohol consumption deteriorates sperm maturity and damages DNA integrity at significantly higher rates than cigarette smoking

Mrgprd Enhances Excitability in Specific Populations of Cutaneous Murine Polymodal Nociceptors

The Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor D (Mrgprd) is selectively expressed in nonpeptidergic nociceptors that innervate the outer layers of mammalian skin. The function of Mrgprd in nociceptive neurons and the physiologically relevant somatosensory stimuli that activate Mrgprd^-expressing (Mrgprd^+) neurons are currently unknown. To address these issues, we studied three Mrgprd knock-in mouse lines using an ex vivo somatosensory preparation to examine the role of the Mrgprd receptor and Mrgprd+ afferents in cutaneous somatosensation. In mouse hairy skin, Mrgprd, as marked by expression of green fluorescent protein reporters, was expressed predominantly in the population of nonpeptidergic, TRPV1-negative, C-polymodal nociceptors. In mice lacking Mrgprd, this population of nociceptors exhibited decreased sensitivity to cold, heat, and mechanical stimuli. Additionally, in vitro patch-clamp studies were performed on cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons from Mrgprd^(–/–) and Mrgprd^(+/–) mice. These studies revealed a higher rheobase in neurons from Mrgprd^(–/–) mice than from Mrgprd^(+/–) mice. Furthermore, the application of the Mrgprd ligand β-alanine significantly reduced the rheobase and increased the firing rate in neurons from Mrgprd^(+/–) mice but was without effect in neurons from Mrgprd^(–/–) mice. Our results demonstrate that Mrgprd influences the excitability of polymodal nonpeptidergic nociceptors to mechanical and thermal stimuli

Routine Million-Particle Simulations of Epoxy Curing with Dissipative Particle Dynamics

Mesoscale simulation techniques have helped to bridge the length scales and time scales needed to predict the microstructures of cured epoxies, but gaps in computational cost and experimental relevance have limited their impact. In this work, we develop an open-source plugin epoxpy for HOOMD-Blue that enables epoxy crosslinking simulations of millions of particles to be routinely performed on a single modern graphics card. We demonstrate the first implementation of custom temperature-time curing profiles with dissipative particle dynamics and show that reaction kinetics depend sensitively on the stochastic bonding rates. We provide guidelines for modeling first-order reaction dynamics in a classic epoxy/hardener/toughener system and show structural sensitivity to the temperature-time profile during cure. We conclude with a discussion of how these efficient large-scale simulations can be used to evaluate ensembles of epoxy processing protocols to quantify the sensitivity of microstructure on processing

The Impact of Heavy Smoking on Male Infertility and Its Correlation with the Expression Levels of the PTPRN2 and PGAM5 Genes

Smoking has been linked to male infertility by affecting the sperm epigenome and genome. In this study, we aimed to determine possible changes in the transcript levels of PGAM5 (the phosphoglycerate mutase family member 5), PTPRN2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase, N2-type receptor), and TYRO3 (tyrosine protein kinase receptor) in heavy smokers compared to non-smokers, and to investigate their association with the fundamental sperm parameters. In total, 118 sperm samples (63 heavy-smokers (G1) and 55 non-smokers (G2)) were included in this study. A semen analysis was performed according to the WHO guidelines. After a total RNA extraction, RT-PCR was used to quantify the transcript levels of the studied genes. In G1, a significant decrease in the standard semen parameters in comparison to the non-smokers was shown (p < 0.05). Moreover, PGAM5 and PTPRN2 were differentially expressed (p ≤ 0.03 and p ≤ 0.01, respectively) and downregulated in the spermatozoa of G1 compared to G2. In contrast, no difference was observed for TYRO3 (p ≤ 0.3). In G1, the mRNA expression level of the studied genes was correlated negatively with motility, sperm count, normal form, vitality, and sperm membrane integrity (p < 0.05). Therefore, smoking may affect gene expression and male fertility by altering the DNA methylation patterns in the genes associated with fertility and sperm quality, including PGAM5, PTPRN2, and TYRO3

Partisan differences in forest policy. An analysis of the german states

Welche Bedeutung messen die Landesparteien der Waldpolitik bei? Welche Waldfunktionen priorisieren sie? Inwieweit sind ihre Positionen von Parteiendifferenzen geprägt? Um diese Forschungsfragen zu adressieren, führen wir eine textanalytische Auswertung von Landtagswahlprogrammen durch, die im Zeitraum von 1990 bis 2019 veröffentlicht wurden. Unsere Analysen zeigen, dass die Positionen der Parteien nicht nur vom regionalen Kontext geprägt, sondern auch Ausdruck fundamental unterschiedlicher Perspektiven auf die Waldpolitik sind. Wir stellen fest, dass linke Parteien, insbesondere B’90/Grüne, eine schutzorientierte Politik befürworten, wohingegen CDU/CSU und FDP deren nutzorientierte Ausrichtung unterstützen. Bemerkenswert ist ferner, dass die Parteien sehr unterschiedliches Gewicht auf das Politikfeld legen. Während sich CDU/CSU, FDP und die Grünen umfangreich mit Waldpolitik beschäftigen, messen ihr Die Linke, die SPD und vor allem die AfD weniger Bedeutung bei. Veränderungen im Zeitverlauf zeigen sich nur begrenzt: zwar widmen sich die Parteien dem Thema häufiger, es ist aber keine Positionsverschiebung feststellbar, die eine sich verändernde Perspektive auf die Waldpolitik widerspiegeln würde.Ministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur des Landes Mecklenburg-VorpommernHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin (1034)Peer Reviewe