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This study scrutinizes press photographs published during the first 6 weeks of the Russian War in Ukraine, beginning February 24th, 2022. Its objective is to shed light on the emotions evoked in Internet-savvy audiences. This empirical research aims to contribute to the understanding of emotional media effects that shape attitudes and actions of ordinary citizens. Main research questions are: What kind of empathic reactions are observed during the Q-sort study? Which visual patterns are relevant for which emotional evaluations and attributions? The assumption is that the evaluations and attributions of empathy are not random, but follow specific patterns. The empathic reactions are based on visual patterns which, in turn, influence the type of empathic reaction. The identification of specific categories for visual and emotional reaction patterns are arrived at in different methodological processes. Visual pattern categories were developed inductively, using the art history method of iconography-iconology to identify six distinct types of visual motifs in a final sample of 33 war photographs. The overarching categories for empathic reactions—empty empathy, vicarious traumatization and witnessing—were applied deductively, building on E. Ann Kaplan's pivotal distinctions. The main result of this research are three novel categories that combine visual patterns with empathic reaction patterns. The labels for these categories are a direct result of the Q-factorial analysis, interpreted through the lense of iconography-iconology. An exploratory nine-scale forced-choice Q-sort study (Nstimuli = 33) was implemented, followed by self-report interviews with a total of 25 participants [F = 16 (64%), M = 9 (36%), Mage = 26.4 years]. Results from this exploratory research include motivational statements on the meanings of war photography from semi-structured post-sort-interviews. The major result of this study are three types of visual patterns (“factors”) that govern distinct empathic reactions in participants: Factor 1 is “veiled empathy” with highest empathy being attributed to photos showing victims whose corpses or faces were veiled. Additional features of “veiled empathy” are a strong anti-politician bias and a heightened awareness of potential visual manipulation. Factor 2 is “mirrored empathy” with highest empathy attributions to photos displaying human suffering openly. Factor 3 focused on the context. It showed a proclivity for documentary style photography. This pattern ranked photos without clear contextualization lower in empathy than those photos displaying the fully contextualized setting. To the best of our knowledge, no study has tested empathic reactions to war photography empirically. In this respect, the study is novel, but also exploratory. Findings like the three patterns of visual empathy might be helpful for photo selection processes in journalism, for political decision-making, for the promotion of relief efforts, and for coping strategies in civil society to deal with the potentially numbing or traumatizing visual legacy of the War in Ukraine.
Stress position in English words is well-known to correlate with both their morphological properties and their phonological organisation in terms of non-segmental, prosodic categories like syllable structure. While two generalisations capturing this correlation, directionality and stratification, are well established, the exact nature of the interaction of phonological and morphological factors in English stress assignment is a much debated issue in the literature. The present study investigates if and how directionality and stratification effects in English can be learned by means of Naive Discriminative Learning, a computational model that is trained using error-driven learning and that does not make any a-priori assumptions about the higher-level phonological organisation and morphological structure of words. Based on a series of simulation studies we show that neither directionality nor stratification need to be stipulated as a-priori properties of words or constraints in the lexicon. Stress can be learned solely on the basis of very flat word representations. Morphological stratification emerges as an effect of the model learning that informativity with regard to stress position is unevenly distributed across all trigrams constituting a word. Morphological affix classes like stress-preserving and stress-shifting affixes are, hence, not predefined classes but sets of trigrams that have similar informativity values with regard to stress position. Directionality, by contrast, emerges as spurious in our simulations; no syllable counting or recourse to abstract prosodic representations seems to be necessary to learn stress position in English.
Mental processes are filters which intervene in the literary presentation of nature. This article will take you on a journey through literary landscapes, starting from Joseph Furphy and end-ing with Gerald Murnane. It will try to show the development of Australian literary landscape depiction. The investigation of this extensive topic will show that the perception of the Aus-tralian landscape as foreign and threatening is a coded expression of the protagonists" crisis of identity due to their estrangement from European cultural roots. Only a feeling of being at home enables the characters to perceive landscapes in a positive way and allows the author to depict intimate and familiar views of nature. This topic will be investigated with a range of novels to reveal the development of this theme from the turn of the nineteenth century (the time of Furphy- novel Such is Life) up to the present (i.e. novels by Malouf, Foster, Hall, Murnane).
The present study covers the period from the late-ninth to the early-sixteenth centuries. Within this period, the late-thirteenth to mid-fourteenth centuries marked the decisive turning point, shaped more by attitudes and actions among the Christian majority than among Jewish agents. Our findings indicate an intensification of anti-Jewish tendencies, rooted in religious developments in Western Christendom. According to circumstances, however, these tendencies had a very varying impact across time and space. The frequent religious and ecclesiastical reform movements of Western Europe offer cases in point. In the 'German' Empire north of the Alps the monastic reforms of Saint Maximin and Gorze were by no means confined to the realm of monasticism; they were essential for shaping the historical circumstances in which the foundations of Ashkenazic Judaism were laid in the tenth and early-eleventh centuries. The concept of 'honor' was used by leading ecclesiastics such as bishop Rudiger of Speyer in 1084 to justify the settlement of Jews, but also by civic authorities such as those of Regensburg later on. It is significant for the long-term tendency, therefore, that the late-medieval expulsions from cities like Trier, Cologne, and Regensburg were eventually also legitimized by reference to the idea of honor.
Academic self-concept (ASC) is comprised of individual perceptions of one- own academic ability. In a cross-sectional quasi-representative sample of 3,779 German elementary school children in grades 1 to 4, we investigated (a) the structure of ASC, (b) ASC profile formation, an aspect of differentiation that is reflected in lower correlations between domain-specific ASCs with increasing grade level, (c) the impact of (internal) dimensional comparisons of one- own ability in different school subjects for profile formation of ASC, and (d) the role played by differences in school grades between subjects for these dimensional comparisons. The nested Marsh/Shavelson model, with general ASC at the apex and math, writing, and reading ASC as specific factors nested under general ASC fitted the data at all grade levels. A first-order factor model with math, writing, reading, and general ASCs as correlated factors provided a good fit, too. ASC profile formation became apparent during the first two to three years of school. Dimensional comparisons across subjects contributed to ASC profile formation. School grades enhanced these comparisons, especially when achievement profiles were uneven. In part, findings depended on the assumed structural model of ASCs. Implications for further research are discussed with special regard to factors influencing and moderating dimensional comparisons.
Background: We evaluated depression and social isolation assessed at time of waitlisting as predictors of survival in heart transplant (HTx) recipients. Methods and Results: Between 2005 and 2006, 318 adult HTx candidates were enrolled in the Waiting for a New Heart Study, and 164 received transplantation. Patients were followed until February 2013. Psychosocial characteristics were assessed by questionnaires. Eurotransplant provided medical data at waitlisting, transplantation dates, and donor characteristics; hospitals reported medical data at HTx and date of death after HTx. During a median followâ€up of 70 months (<1"93 months postâ€HTx), 56 (38%) of 148 transplanted patients with complete data died. Depression scores were unrelated to social isolation, and neither correlated with disease severity. Higher depression scores increased the risk of dying (hazard ratio=1.07, 95% confidence interval, 1.01, 1.15, P=0.032), which was moderated by social isolation scores (significant interaction term; hazard ratio = 0.985, 95% confidence interval, 0.973, 0.998; P=0.022). These findings were maintained in multivariate models controlling for covariates (P values 0.020"0.039). Actuarial 1â€year/5â€year survival was best for patients with low depression who were not socially isolated at waitlisting (86% after 1 year, 79% after 5 years). Survival of those who were either depressed, or socially isolated or both, was lower, especially 5 years posttransplant (56%, 60%, and 62%, respectively). Conclusions: Low depression in conjunction with social integration at time of waitlisting is related to enhanced chances for survival after HTx. Both factors should be considered for inclusion in standardized assessments and interventions for HTx candidates. We evaluated depression and social isolation assessed at time of waitlisting as predictors of survival in heart transplant (HTx) recipients.\r\n\r\nMethods and Results: Between 2005 and 2006, 318 adult HTx candidates were enrolled in the Waiting for a New Heart Study, and 164 received transplantation. Patients were followed until February 2013. Psychosocial characteristics were assessed by questionnaires. Eurotransplant provided medical data at waitlisting, transplantation dates, and donor characteristics; hospitals reported medical data at HTx and date of death after HTx. During a median followâ€up of 70 months (<1"93 months postâ€HTx), 56 (38%) of 148 transplanted patients with complete data died. Depression scores were unrelated to social isolation, and neither correlated with disease severity. Higher depression scores increased the risk of dying (hazard ratio=1.07, 95% confidence interval, 1.01, 1.15, P=0.032), which was moderated by social isolation scores (significant interaction term; hazard ratio = 0.985, 95% confidence interval, 0.973, 0.998; P=0.022). These findings were maintained in multivariate models controlling for covariates (P values 0.020"0.039). Actuarial 1â€year/5â€year survival was best for patients with low depression who were not socially isolated at waitlisting (86% after 1 year, 79% after 5 years). Survival of those who were either depressed, or socially isolated or both, was lower, especially 5 years posttransplant (56%, 60%, and 62%, respectively).
Dysfunctional eating behavior is a major risk factor for developing all sorts of eating disorders. Food craving is a concept that may help to understand better why and how these and other eating disorders become chronic conditions through non homeastatically-driven mechanisms. As obesity affects people worldwide, cultural differences must be acknowledged to apply proper therapeutic strategies. In this work, we adapted the Food Craving Inventory (FCI) to the German population. We performed a factor analysis of an adaptation of the original FCI in a sample of 326 men and women. We could replicate the factor structure of the FCI on a German population.rnThe factor extraction procedure produced a factor solution that reproduces the fourfactors described in the original inventory, the FCI. Our instrument presents high internal consistency, as well as a significant correlation with measures of convergent and discriminant validity. The FCI-Deutsch (FCI-DE) is a valid instrument to assess craving for particular foods in Germany, and it could, therefore, prove useful in the clinical and research practice in the field of obesity and eating behaviors.
Long-Term Memory Updating: The Reset-of-Encoding Hypothesis in List-Method Directed Forgetting
(2017)
People- memory for new information can be enhanced by cuing them to forget older information, as is shown in list-method directed forgetting (LMDF). In this task, people are cued to forget a previously studied list of items (list 1) and to learn a new list of items (list 2) instead. Such cuing typically enhances memory for the list 2 items and reduces memory for the list 1 items, which reflects effective long-term memory updating. This review focuses on the reset-of-encoding (ROE) hypothesis as a theoretical explanation of the list 2 enhancement effect in LMDF. The ROE hypothesis is based on the finding that encoding efficacy typically decreases with number of encoded items and assumes that providing a forget cue after study of some items (e.g., list 1) resets the encoding process and makes encoding of subsequent items (e.g., early list 2 items) as effective as encoding of previously studied (e.g., early list 1) items. The review provides an overview of current evidence for the ROE hypothesis. The evidence arose from recent behavioral, neuroscientific, and modeling studies that examined LMDF on both an item and a list level basis. The findings support the view that ROE plays a critical role for the list 2 enhancement effect in LMDF. Alternative explanations of the effect and the generalizability of ROE to other experimental tasks are discussed.
Background: Psychotherapy is successful for the majority of patients , but not for every patient. Hence, further knowledge is needed on how treatments should be adapted for those who do not profit or deteriorate. In the last years prediction tools as well as feedback interventions were part of a trend to more personalized approaches in psychotherapy. Research on psychometric prediction and feedback into ongoing treatment has the potential to enhance treatment outcomes, especially for patients with an increased risk of treatment failure or drop-out.rnMethods/design: The research project investigates in a randomized controlled trial the effectiveness as well as moderating and mediating factors of psychometric feedback to therapists. In the intended study a total of 423 patients, who applied for a cognitive-behavioral therapy at the psychotherapy clinic of the University Trier and suffer from a depressive and/or an anxietyrndisorder (SCID interviews), will be included. The patients will be randomly assigned either to one therapist as well as to one of two intervention groups (CG, IG2). An additional intervention group (IG1) will be generated from an existing archival data set via propensity score matching. Patients of the control group (CG; n = 85) will be monitored concerning psychological impairment but therapists will not be provided with any feedback about the patients assessments. In both intervention groups (IG1: n = 169; IG2: n = 169) the therapists are provided with feedback about the patients self-evaluation in a computerized feedback portal. Therapists of the IG2 will additionally be provided with clinical support tools, which will be developed in thisrnproject, on the basis of existing systems. Therapists will also be provided with a personalized treatment recommendation based on similar patients (Nearest Neighbors) at the beginning of treatment. Besides the general effectiveness of feedback and the clinical support tools for negatively developing patients, further mediating and moderating variables on this feedback effectrnshould be examined: treatment length, frequency of feedback use, therapist effects, therapist- experience, attitude towards feedback as well as congruence of therapist-andpatient- evaluation concerning the progress. Additional procedures will be implemented to assess treatment adherence as well as the reliability of diagnosis and to include it into the analyses.rnDiscussion: The current trial tests a comprehensive feedback system which combines precision mental health predictions with routine outcome monitoring and feedback tools in routine outpatient psychotherapy. It also adds to previous feedback research a stricter design by investigating another repeated measurement CG as well as a stricter control of treatment integrity. It also includes a structured clinical interview (SCID) and controls for comorbidity (within depression and anxiety). This study also investigates moderators (attitudes towards, use of the feedback system, diagnoses) and mediators (therapists" awareness of negative change and treatment length) in one study.
The Firepower of Work Craving: When Self-Control Is Burning under the Rubble of Self-Regulation
(2017)
Work craving theory addresses how work-addicted individuals direct great emotion-regulatory efforts to weave their addictive web of working. They crave work for two main emotional incentives: to overcompensate low self-worth and to escape (i.e., reduce) negative affect, which is strategically achieved through neurotic perfectionism and compulsive working. Work-addicted individuals" strong persistence and self-discipline with respect to work-related activities suggest strong skills in volitional action control. However, their inability to disconnect from work implies low volitional skills. How can work-addicted individuals have poor and strong volitional skills at the same time? To answer this paradox, we elaborated on the relevance of two different volitional modes in work craving: self-regulation (self-maintenance) and self-control (goal maintenance). Four hypotheses were derived from Wojdylo- work craving theory and Kuhl- self-regulation theory: (H1) Work craving is associated with a combination of low self-regulation and high self-control. (H2) Work craving is associated with symptoms of psychological distress. (H3) Low self-regulation is associated with psychological distress symptoms. (H4) Work craving mediates the relationships between self-regulation deficits and psychological distress symptoms at high levels of self-control. Additionally, we aimed at supporting the discriminant validity of work craving with respect to work engagement by showing their different volitional underpinnings. Results of the two studies confirmed our hypotheses: whereas work craving was predicted by high self-control and low self-regulation and associated with higher psychological distress, work engagement was predicted by high self-regulation and high self-control and associated with lower symptoms of psychological distress. Furthermore, work styles mediated the relationship between volitional skills and symptoms of psychological distress. Based on these new insights, several suggestions for prevention and therapeutic interventions for work-addicted individuals are proposed.
This paper describes the concept of the hyperspectral Earth-observing thermal infrared (TIR) satellite mission HiTeSEM (High-resolution Temperature and Spectral Emissivity Mapping). The scientific goal is to measure specific key variables from the biosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, and geosphere related to two global problems of significant societal relevance: food security and human health. The key variables comprise land and sea surface radiation temperature and emissivity, surface moisture, thermal inertia, evapotranspiration, soil minerals and grain size components, soil organic carbon, plant physiological variables, and heat fluxes. The retrieval of this information requires a TIR imaging system with adequate spatial and spectral resolutions and with day-night following observation capability. Another challenge is the monitoring of temporally high dynamic features like energy fluxes, which require adequate revisit time. The suggested solution is a sensor pointing concept to allow high revisit times for selected target regions (1"5 days at off-nadir). At the same time, global observations in the nadir direction are guaranteed with a lower temporal repeat cycle (>1 month). To account for the demand of a high spatial resolution for complex targets, it is suggested to combine in one optic (1) a hyperspectral TIR system with ~75 bands at 7.2"12.5 -µm (instrument NEDT 0.05 K"0.1 K) and a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 60 m, and (2) a panchromatic high-resolution TIR-imager with two channels (8.0"10.25 -µm and 10.25"12.5 -µm) and a GSD of 20 m. The identified science case requires a good correlation of the instrument orbit with Sentinel-2 (maximum delay of 1"3 days) to combine data from the visible and near infrared (VNIR), the shortwave infrared (SWIR) and TIR spectral regions and to refine parameter retrieval.
Dry tropical forests undergo massive conversion and degradation processes. This also holds true for the extensive Miombo forests that cover large parts of Southern Africa. While the largest proportional area can be found in Angola, the country still struggles with food shortages, insufficient medical and educational supplies, as well as the ongoing reconstruction of infrastructure after 27 years of civil war. Especially in rural areas, the local population is therefore still heavily dependent on the consumption of natural resources, as well as subsistence agriculture. This leads, on one hand, to large areas of Miombo forests being converted for cultivation purposes, but on the other hand, to degradation processes due to the selective use of forest resources. While forest conversion in south-central rural Angola has already been quantitatively described, information about forest degradation is not yet available. This is due to the history of conflicts and the therewith connected research difficulties, as well as the remote location of this area. We apply an annual time series approach using Landsat data in south-central Angola not only to assess the current degradation status of the Miombo forests, but also to derive past developments reaching back to times of armed conflicts. We use the Disturbance Index based on tasseled cap transformation to exclude external influences like inter-annual variation of rainfall. Based on this time series, linear regression is calculated for forest areas unaffected by conversion, but also for the pre-conversion period of those areas that were used for cultivation purposes during the observation time. Metrics derived from linear regression are used to classify the study area according to their dominant modification processes.rnWe compare our results to MODIS latent integral trends and to further products to derive information on underlying drivers. Around 13% of the Miombo forests are affected by degradation processes, especially along streets, in villages, and close to existing agriculture. However, areas in presumably remote and dense forest areas are also affected to a significant extent. A comparison with MODIS derived fire ignition data shows that they are most likely affected by recurring fires and less by selective timber extraction. We confirm that areas that are used for agriculture are more heavily disturbed by selective use beforehand than those that remain unaffected by conversion. The results can be substantiated by the MODIS latent integral trends and we also show that due to extent and location, the assessment of forest conversion is most likely not sufficient to provide good estimates for the loss of natural resources.
Avoiding aerial microfibre contamination of environmental samples is essential for reliable analyses when it comes to the detection of ubiquitous microplastics. Almost all laboratories have contamination problems which are largely unavoidable without investments in clean-air devices. Therefore, our study supplies an approach to assess background microfibre contamination of samples in the laboratory under particle-free air conditions. We tested aerial contamination of samples indoor, in a mobile laboratory, within a laboratory fume hood and on a clean bench with particles filtration during the examining process of a fish. The used clean bench reduced aerial microfibre contamination in our laboratory by 96.5%. This highlights the value of suitable clean-air devices for valid microplastic pollution data. Our results indicate, that pollution levels by microfibres have been overestimated and actual pollution levels may be many times lower. Accordingly, such clean-air devices are recommended for microplastic laboratory applications in future research work to significantly lower error rates.
Global human population growth is associated with many problems, such asrnfood and water provision, political conflicts, spread of diseases, and environmental destruction. The mitigation of these problems is mirrored in several global conventions and programs, some of which, however, are conflicting. Here, we discuss the conflicts between biodiversity conservation and disease eradication. Numerous health programs aim at eradicating pathogens, and many focus on the eradication of vectors, such as mosquitos or other parasites. As a case study, we focus on the "Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign," which aims at eradicating a pathogen (Trypanosoma) as well as its vector, the entire group of tsetse flies (Glossinidae). As the distribution of tsetse flies largely overlaps with the African hotspots of freshwater biodiversity, we argue for a strong consideration of environmental issues when applying vector control measures, especially the aerial applications of insecticides.rnFurthermore, we want to stimulate discussions on the value of speciesrnand whether full eradication of a pathogen or vector is justified at all. Finally, we call for a stronger harmonization of international conventions. Proper environmental impact assessments need to be conducted before control or eradication programs are carried out to minimize negative effects on biodiversity.
Determining the exact position of a forest inventory plot—and hence the position of the sampled trees—is often hampered by a poor Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal quality beneath the forest canopy. Inaccurate geo-references hamper the performance of models that aim to retrieve useful information from spatially high remote sensing data (e.g., species classification or timber volume estimation). This restriction is even more severe on the level of individual trees. The objective of this study was to develop a post-processing strategy to improve the positional accuracy of GNSS-measured sample-plot centers and to develop a method to automatically match trees within a terrestrial sample plot to aerial detected trees. We propose a new method which uses a random forest classifier to estimate the matching probability of each terrestrial-reference and aerial detected tree pair, which gives the opportunity to assess the reliability of the results. We investigated 133 sample plots of the Third German National Forest Inventory (BWI, 2011"2012) within the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. For training and objective validation, synthetic forest stands have been modeled using the Waldplaner 2.0 software. Our method has achieved an overall accuracy of 82.7% for co-registration and 89.1% for tree matching. With our method, 60% of the investigated plots could be successfully relocated. The probabilities provided by the algorithm are an objective indicator of the reliability of a specific result which could be incorporated into quantitative models to increase the performance of forest attribute estimations.
It is generally assumed that the temperature increase associated with global climate change will lead to increased thunderstorm intensity and associated heavy precipitation events. In the present study it is investigated whether the frequency of thunderstorm occurrences will in- or decrease and how the spatial distribution will change for the A1B scenario. The region of interest is Central Europe with a special focus on the Saar-Lor-Lux region (Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg) and Rhineland-Palatinate.Daily model data of the COSMO-CLM with a horizontal resolution of 4.5 km is used. The simulations were carried out for two different time slices: 1971"2000 (C20), and 2071"2100 (A1B). Thunderstorm indices are applied to detect thunderstorm-prone conditions and differences in their frequency of occurrence in the two thirty years timespans. The indices used are CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy), SLI (Surface Lifted Index), and TSP (Thunderstorm Severity Potential).The investigation of the present and future thunderstorm conducive conditions show a significant increase of non-thunderstorm conditions. The regional averaged thunderstorm frequencies will decrease in general, but only in the Alps a potential increase in thunderstorm occurrences and intensity is found. The comparison between time slices of 10 and 30 years length show that the number of gridpoints with significant signals increases only slightly. In order to get a robust signal for severe thunderstorm, an extension to more than 75 years would be necessary.
In the present study a non-motion-stabilized scanning Doppler lidar was operated on board of RV Polarstern in the Arctic (June 2014) and Antarctic (December 2015– January 2016). This is the first time that such a system measured on an icebreaker in the Antarctic. A method for a motion correction of the data in the post-processing is presented.
The wind calculation is based on vertical azimuth display (VAD) scans with eight directions that pass a quality control. Additionally a method for an empirical signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) threshold is presented, which can be calculated for individual measurement set-ups. Lidar wind profiles are compared to total of about 120 radiosonde profiles and also to wind measurements of the ship.
The performance of the lidar measurements in comparison with radio soundings generally shows small root mean square deviation (bias) for wind speed of around 1ms-1(0.1ms-1) and for wind direction of around 10 (1). The post-processing of the non-motion-stabilized data shows comparably high quality to studies with motion-stabilized systems.
Two case studies show that a flexible change in SNR threshold can be beneficial for special situations. Further the studies reveal that short-lived low-level jets in the atmospheric boundary layer can be captured by lidar measurements with a high temporal resolution in contrast to routine radio soundings. The present study shows that a non-motionstabilized Doppler lidar can be operated successfully on an
icebreaker. It presents a processing chain including quality control tests and error quantification, which is useful for further measurement campaigns.
Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) influences the perception of taste and texture, features both relevant in acquiring food liking and, with time, food preference. However, no studies have yet investigated the relationship between basal activity levels of sAA and food preference. We collected saliva from 57 volunteers (63% women) who we assessed in terms of their preference for different food items. These items were grouped into four categories according to their nutritional properties: high in starch, high in sugar, high glycaemic index, and high glycaemic load. Anthropometric markers of cardiovascular risk were also calculated. Our findings suggest that sAA influences food
preference and body composition in women. Regression analysis showed that basal sAA activity is inversely associated with subjective but not self-reported behavioural preference for foods high in sugar. Additionally, sAA and subjective preference are associated with anthropometric markers of cardiovascular risk. We believe that this pilot study points to this enzyme as an interesting candidate to consider among the physiological factors that modulate eating behaviour.
Acute social and physical stress interact to influence social behavior: the role of social anxiety
(2018)
Stress is proven to have detrimental effects on physical and mental health. Due to different tasks and study designs, the direct consequences of acute stress have been found to be wide-reaching: while some studies report prosocial effects, others report increases in antisocial behavior, still others report no effect. To control for specific effects of different stressors and to consider the role of social anxiety in stress-related social behavior, we investigated the effects of social versus physical stress on behavior in male participants possessing different levels of social anxiety. In a randomized, controlled two by two design we investigated the impact of social and physical stress on behavior in healthy young men. We found significant influences on various subjective increases in stress by physical and social stress, but no interaction effect. Cortisol was significantly increased by physical stress, and the heart rate was modulated by physical and social stress as well as their combination. Social anxiety modulated the subjective stress response but not the cortisol or heart rate response. With respect to behavior, our results show that social and physical stress interacted to modulate trust, trustworthiness, and sharing. While social stress and physical stress alone reduced prosocial behavior, a combination of the two stressor modalities could restore prosociality. Social stress alone reduced nonsocial risk behavior regardless of physical stress. Social anxiety was associated with higher subjective stress responses and higher levels of trust. As a consequence, future studies will need to investigate further various stressors and clarify their effects on social behavior in health and social anxiety disorders.
The changing views on the evolutionary relationships of extant Salamandridae (Amphibia: Urodela)
(2018)
The phylogenetic relationships among members of the family Salamandridae have been repeatedly investigated over the last 90 years, with changing character and taxon sampling. We review the changing composition and the phylogenetic position of salamandrid genera and species groups and add a new phylogeny based exclusively on sequences of nuclear genes. Salamandrina often changed its position depending on the characters used. It was included several times in a clade together with the primitive newts (Echinotriton, Pleurodeles, Tylototriton) due to their seemingly ancestral morphology. The latter were often inferred as a monophyletic clade. Respective monophyly was almost consistently established in all molecular studies for true salamanders (Chioglossa, Lyciasalamandra, Mertensiella, Salamandra), modern Asian newts (Cynops, Laotriton, Pachytriton, Paramesotriton) and modern New World newts (Notophthalmus, Taricha). Reciprocal non-monophyly has been established through molecular studies for the European mountain newts (Calotriton, Euproctus) and the modern European newts (Ichthyosaura, Lissotriton, Neurergus, Ommatotriton, Triturus) since Calotriton was identified as the sister lineage of Triturus. In pre-molecular studies, their respective monophyly had almost always been assumed, mainly because a complex courtship behaviour shared by their respective members. Our nuclear tree is nearly identical to a mito-genomic tree, with all but one node being highly supported. The major difference concerns the position of Calotriton, which is no longer nested within the modern European newts. This has implications for the evolution of courtship behaviour of European newts. Within modern European newts, Ichthyosaura and Lissotriton changed their position compared to the mito-genomic tree. Previous molecular trees based on seemingly large nuclear data sets, but analysed together with mitochondrial data, did not reveal monophyly of modern European newts since taxon sampling and nuclear gene coverage was too poor to obtain conclusive results. We therefore conclude that mitochondrial and nuclear data should be analysed on their own.