The impact of emotions on polarization. Anger polarizes attitudes towards vaccine mandates and increases affective polarization

When does anger lead to greater polarization? As societal polarization and political polarization increase so does academic interest in its antecedents. One important cause of polarization appears to be anger. However, existing research linking anger and political polarization has focused primarily on the context of partisanship and did not distinguish between different types of anger nor different forms of polarization. To address this gap in the literature, we analyze how generalized versus issue-specific anger amplify issue-based and affective polarization in the highly charged context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We test these relationships through a survey experiment embedded in a national German sample (n = 2857) and show that anger is linked to polarization. However, we also show that different forms of anger influence different aspects of polarization. Issue polarization is driven primarily by generalized anger, while corona-specific anger increases affective polarization. Together, these results underline the importance of understanding the emotional nuances of polarization. More generally, the results illustrate the problems policy makers face when navigating heavily contested and emotionally charged topics. While increased anger may be helpful for mobilizing support among already supportive citizens, it does little to convince skeptical citizens and carries the cost of increasing societal polarization

The hidden majority/minority consensus: Minorities show similar preference patterns of immigrant support as the majority population

The acceptance of new arrivals has become an important topic regarding the social cohesion of the receiving countries. However, previous studies focused only on the native population's drivers of attitudes towards immigrants, disregarding that immigrant-origin inhabitants now form a considerable part of the population. To test whether the drivers for the willingness to support immigrants are the same for natives and immigrants and their descendants, we rely on a vignette study conducted in a representative German online panel (N = 3149) which contains an overrepresentation of immigrant-origin respondents. We presented participants with three vignettes of potential immigrants, varying, amongst other factors, economic prospects, safe and war-ridden countries of origin (to capture deservingness), as well as religious identity. While we find that minority members are generally slightly more welcoming towards immigrants than majority members, at their core are the same factors that drive attitudes to immigrants in both groups: economic cost, cultural similarity, and deservingness. However, we observe differences at the margins: Immigrant-origin respondents take into account economic prospects to a lesser degree than majority members do, and by trend, they are less likely to distinguish between immigrants from war-ridden and safe countries of origin. Furthermore, we can show that the preference for immigrants with the same religious identities not only occurs among majority members but also among minority members

The effect of influenza virus on the human oropharyngeal microbiome

© The Author(s) 2018. Background. Secondary bacterial infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality associated with influenza infections. As bacterial disease can be caused by a disturbance of the host microbiome, we examined the impact of influenza on the upper respiratory tract microbiome in a human challenge study. Methods. The dynamics and ecology of the throat microbiome were examined following an experimental influenza challenge of 52 previously-healthy adult volunteers with influenza A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2) by intranasal inoculation; 35 healthy control subjects were not subjected to the viral challenge. Serial oropharyngeal samples were taken over a 30-day period, and the V1-V3 region of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA sequences were amplified and sequenced to determine the composition of the microbiome. The carriage of pathogens was also detected. Results. Of the 52 challenged individuals, 43 developed proven influenza infections, 33 of whom became symptomatic. None of the controls developed influenza, although 22% reported symptoms. The diversity of bacterial communities remained remarkably stable following the acquisition of influenza, with no significant differences over time between individuals with influenza and those in the control group. Influenza infection was not associated with perturbation of the microbiome at the level of phylum or genus. There was no change in colonization rates with Streptococcus pneumoniae or Neisseria meningitidis. Conclusions. The throat microbiota is resilient to influenza infection, indicating the robustness of the upper-airway microbiome

Staircase polygons: moments of diagonal lengths and column heights

We consider staircase polygons, counted by perimeter and sums of k-th powers of their diagonal lengths, k being a positive integer. We derive limit distributions for these parameters in the limit of large perimeter and compare the results to Monte-Carlo simulations of self-avoiding polygons. We also analyse staircase polygons, counted by width and sums of powers of their column heights, and we apply our methods to related models of directed walks.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures; to appear in proceedings of Counting Complexity: An International Workshop On Statistical Mechanics And Combinatorics, 10-15 July 2005, Queensland, Australi

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of body psychotherapy in the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia - a multi-centre randomised controlled trial

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Multiplicity Structure of the Hadronic Final State in Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

The multiplicity structure of the hadronic system X produced in deep-inelastic processes at HERA of the type ep -> eXY, where Y is a hadronic system with mass M_Y< 1.6 GeV and where the squared momentum transfer at the pY vertex, t, is limited to |t|<1 GeV^2, is studied as a function of the invariant mass M_X of the system X. Results are presented on multiplicity distributions and multiplicity moments, rapidity spectra and forward-backward correlations in the centre-of-mass system of X. The data are compared to results in e+e- annihilation, fixed-target lepton-nucleon collisions, hadro-produced diffractive final states and to non-diffractive hadron-hadron collisions. The comparison suggests a production mechanism of virtual photon dissociation which involves a mixture of partonic states and a significant gluon content. The data are well described by a model, based on a QCD-Regge analysis of the diffractive structure function, which assumes a large hard gluonic component of the colourless exchange at low Q^2. A model with soft colour interactions is also successful.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J., error in first submission - omitted bibliograph

Measurements of Transverse Energy Flow in Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Measurements of transverse energy flow are presented for neutral current deep-inelastic scattering events produced in positron-proton collisions at HERA. The kinematic range covers squared momentum transfers Q^2 from 3.2 to 2,200 GeV^2, the Bjorken scaling variable x from 8.10^{-5} to 0.11 and the hadronic mass W from 66 to 233 GeV. The transverse energy flow is measured in the hadronic centre of mass frame and is studied as a function of Q^2, x, W and pseudorapidity. A comparison is made with QCD based models. The behaviour of the mean transverse energy in the central pseudorapidity region and an interval corresponding to the photon fragmentation region are analysed as a function of Q^2 and W.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys.

Consensus on circulatory shock and hemodynamic monitoring. Task force of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.

OBJECTIVE: Circulatory shock is a life-threatening syndrome resulting in multiorgan failure and a high mortality rate. The aim of this consensus is to provide support to the bedside clinician regarding the diagnosis, management and monitoring of shock. METHODS: The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine invited 12 experts to form a Task Force to update a previous consensus (Antonelli et al.: Intensive Care Med 33:575-590, 2007). The same five questions addressed in the earlier consensus were used as the outline for the literature search and review, with the aim of the Task Force to produce statements based on the available literature and evidence. These questions were: (1) What are the epidemiologic and pathophysiologic features of shock in the intensive care unit ? (2) Should we monitor preload and fluid responsiveness in shock ? (3) How and when should we monitor stroke volume or cardiac output in shock ? (4) What markers of the regional and microcirculation can be monitored, and how can cellular function be assessed in shock ? (5) What is the evidence for using hemodynamic monitoring to direct therapy in shock ? Four types of statements were used: definition, recommendation, best practice and statement of fact. RESULTS: Forty-four statements were made. The main new statements include: (1) statements on individualizing blood pressure targets; (2) statements on the assessment and prediction of fluid responsiveness; (3) statements on the use of echocardiography and hemodynamic monitoring. CONCLUSIONS: This consensus provides 44 statements that can be used at the bedside to diagnose, treat and monitor patients with shock

Multi-Jet Event Rates in Deep Inelastic Scattering and Determination of the Strong Coupling Constant

Jet event rates in deep inelastic ep scattering at HERA are investigated applying the modified JADE jet algorithm. The analysis uses data taken with the H1 detector in 1994 and 1995. The data are corrected for detector and hadronization effects and then compared with perturbative QCD predictions using next-to-leading order calculations. The strong coupling constant alpha_S(M_Z^2) is determined evaluating the jet event rates. Values of alpha_S(Q^2) are extracted in four different bins of the negative squared momentum transfer~\qq in the range from 40 GeV2 to 4000 GeV2. A combined fit of the renormalization group equation to these several alpha_S(Q^2) values results in alpha_S(M_Z^2) = 0.117+-0.003(stat)+0.009-0.013(syst)+0.006(jet algorithm).Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, this version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.; it replaces first posted hep-ex/9807019 which had incorrect figure 4