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In sociological research, the study of macro processes, such as opinion polarization, faces a fundamental problem, the so-called micro-macro problem. To overcome this problem, we combine empirical experimental research on biased argument processing with a computational theory of group deliberation in order to clarify the role of biased processing in debates around energy. The experiment reveals a strong tendency to consider arguments aligned with the current attitude more persuasive and to downgrade those speaking against it. This is integrated into the framework of argument communication theory in which agents exchange arguments about a certain topic and adapt opinions accordingly. We derive a mathematical model that allows to relate the strength of biased processing to expected attitude changes given the specific experimental conditions and find a clear signature of moderate biased processing. We further show that this model fits significantly better to the experimentally observed attitude changes than the neutral argument processing assumption made in previous models. Our approach provides new insight into the relationship between biased processing and opinion polarization. At the individual level our analysis reveals a sharp qualitative transition from attitude moderation to polarization. At the collective level we find (i.) that weak biased processing significantly accelerates group decision processes whereas (ii.) strong biased processing leads to a persistent conflictual state of subgroup polarization. While this shows that biased processing alone is sufficient for the emergence of polarization, we also demonstrate that homophily may lead to intra-group conflict at significantly lower rates of biased processing.

This article tries to offer a new perspective on parchment, mainly with regard to animals whose skins were, and sometimes still are, used to manufacture this writing material. A short outline of the manufacturing process serves as a basis and is complemented by a similarly short history of development and usage. Subsequently, some calculations, which should not be taken too seriously, may illustrate the huge number of animals that had to be slaughtered to produce enough parchment for all the codices in the older collections of our libraries. The second main topic is the animals who served as the main source for parchment during the German Middle Ages, namely sheep, goats and cattle. Therefore aspects of zooarchaeology and agricultural history are brought up here as well. Dieser Artikel unternimmt den Versuch, das Thema Pergament um einige Blickwinkel zu erweitern, die hauptsächlich die Tiere betreffen, aus deren Häuten dieser Beschreibstoff hergestellt wird bzw. wurde. Ein kurzer Abriss zum Herstellungsprozess dient dabei als Grundlage, die um eine ebenso knappe historische Entwicklungs- und Nutzungsgeschichte ergänzt wird. Anschließend werden einige nicht allzu ernst gemeinte quantitative Zahlenspielereien präsentiert, um die schiere Zahl der geschlachteten Tiere zu zeigen, die für die in den Altbeständen befindlichen Pergamentcodices notwendig gewesen sein müssten. Der zweite Hauptpunkt des Artikels ergänzt einige archäozoologische und agrarhistorische Aspekte zu den wichtigsten pergamentliefernden Tieren, also zu Schafen, Ziegen und Rindern, im deutschen Mittelalter. Peer Reviewed

The method of exclusion identifies patterns of distributions of behaviours and/or artefact forms among different groups, where these patterns are deemed unlikely to arise from purely genetic and/or ecological factors. The presence of such patterns is often used to establish whether a species is cultural or not—i.e. whether a species uses social learning or not. Researchers using or describing this method have often pointed out that the method cannot pinpoint which specific type(s) of social learning resulted in the observed patterns. However, the literature continues to contain such inferences. In a new attempt to warn against these logically unwarranted conclusions, we illustrate this error using a novel approach. We use an individual-based model, focused on wild ape cultural patterns—as these patterns are the best-known cases of animal culture and as they also contain the most frequent usage of the unwarranted inference for specific social learning mechanisms. We built a model that contained agents unable to copy specifics of behavioural or artefact forms beyond their individual reach (which we define as “copying”). We did so, as some of the previous inference claims related to social learning mechanisms revolve around copying defined in this way. The results of our model however show that non-copying social learning can already reproduce the defining—even iconic—features of observed ape cultural patterns detected by the method of exclusion. This shows, using a novel model approach, that copying processes are not necessary to produce the cultural patterns that are sometimes still used in an attempt to identify copying processes. Additionally, our model could fully control for both environmental and genetic factors (impossible in real life) and thus offers a new validity check for the method of exclusion as related to general cultural claims—a check that the method passed. Our model also led to new and additional findings, which we likewise discuss. European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No 714658; STONECULT project).

Abstract This article proposes new readings and interpretative suggestions to Greek and Coptic administrative documents from early Islamic Egypt (7th-8th century).

Abstract New edition of a short Christian hymn preserved on papyrus.

This paper analyzes the impact of source-country culture on the labor supply of female immigrants in Europe. We find that the labor supply of immigrant women is positively associated with the female-to-male labor force participation ratio in their source country, which serves as a proxy for the country's preferences and beliefs regarding women's roles. This suggests that the culture and norms of their source country play an important role for immigrant women's labor supply. However, contradicting previous evidence for the US, we do not find evidence that the cultural effect persists through the second generation.

Using current performance to set future targets can discourage effort and reduce performance. Our study examines whether this ratchet effect also undermines incentives of high-level managers and executives. We use a dynamic model to show that empirical tests used in prior literature can falsely reject the null hypothesis of no ratchet effect. We also motivate a new test that can better detect the adverse incentives effects of target setting. Specifically, we show that the ratchet effect can be identified as the effect of past performance on changes in perceived target difficulty. We use panel data from nine annual 2011–2019 surveys to implement this test. Similar to prior studies, we find strong evidence that targets are revised upward following good performance. Nevertheless, we reject the ratchet effect hypothesis because we further find that good performance in one period is associated with a decrease in perceived target difficulty in the next period. This finding is more pronounced in settings where well-performing managers have more private information about future performance and where long-term commitments are more credible. This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4641 .

The Shunt-LDO regulator has been integrated in the ATLAS and the CMS pixel detector RD53 front-end chip to implement the serial powering scheme which both experiments have chosen as the baseline option for the HL-LHC upgrade. The performance of the integrated regulators has been characterized and specific design challenges have been identified which are related to layout parasitics and shallow trench isolation (STI) stress effects. In addition the functionality of circuits which address crucial system level aspects like the protection against overvoltage/overload has been verified.

Abstract ELVES have been regularly studied since 2013 with the twenty-four telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, exploiting a dedicated trigger and extended readout. A large fraction of the observed events shows double ELVES within the time window, and, in some cases, even more complex structures are observed. We classify double ELVES using the radial variation of the time gap and the photon flux ratio between flashes. Such parameters may be related to the different types of lightning in which they originated. We will review the cross correlations of the ELVES light emissions with the radio waves detected by the antennas of the ENTLN network, active in Argentina since late 2018. Further improvements of our detection and classification algorithms were achieved by detecting ELVES from closer lightning: since December 2020, the ELVES trigger was extended to the three High Elevation Auger Telescopes (HEAT), which observe the night sky at elevation angles between 30 and 60 degrees, with an enhanced time resolution (50 ns time binning). Both single and double ELVES are recorded with unprecedented time and space resolution. Events from the first year of data taking will be shown.