Polarizing rhetoric and negative tone are thought to generate more attention on social media. We seek to describe and analyze how presidential candidates in Colombia’s 2022 election deployed (de)polarizing rhetoric and tone, around what topics, and with what effects. We analyze the tweets (and corresponding engagement) of the four leading candidates during the campaign. Tone behaves as expected. Negatively worded tweets receive overall more likes and retweets, though the strength of their effect varies by candidate. Polarizing rhetoric behaves differently. Using polarizing and depolarizing rhetoric proved better than neutral messages, but using depolarizing rhetoric, generated greater engagement than its polarizing counterpart. This study suggests that the visibility of a candidate does not necessarily correspond to their greater use of Twitter, an increased deployment of polarizing rhetoric, or an emphasis on negative emotions. This article provides a glimmer of hope regarding the potential usefulness of positive uniting messages on Twitter (now X).

As a typical plasma-based optical element that can sustain ultra-high light intensity, plasma density gratings driven by intense laser pulses have been extensively studied for wide applications. Here, we show that the plasma density grating driven by two intersecting driver laser pulses is not only nonuniform in space but also varies over time. Consequently, the probe laser pulse that passes through such a dynamic plasma density grating will be depolarized, that is, its polarization becomes spatially and temporally variable. More importantly, the laser depolarization may spontaneously take place for crossed laser beams if their polarization angles are arranged properly. The laser depolarization by a dynamic plasma density grating may find application in mitigating parametric instabilities in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion.

Thermal stress can induce birefringence in a laser medium, which can cause depolarization of the laser. The depolarization effect will be very severe in a high-average-power laser. Because the depolarization will make the frequency doubling efficiency decline, it should be compensated. In this paper, the thermal characteristics of two kinds of materials are analyzed in respect of temperature, thermal deformation and thermal stress. The depolarization result from thermal stress was simulated. Depolarization on non-uniform pumping was also simulated, and the compensation method is discussed.

Routine motor nerve conduction studies measure latencies, conduction velocities and amplitudes of compound action potentials. These measurements can be very useful in defining the pathology, while they provide little insight into the underlying disease mechanisms. Increasingly, the technique of ‘threshold tracking’ is being used in research and clinical studies on large myelinated axons. Nerve excitability testing is a non-invasive approach in investigating the pathophysiology of peripheral nerve disorders, which determines the electrical properties of the nerve membrane at the site of stimulation. We have found evidence that in patients with critical illness polyneuropathy peripheral nerves are depolarized. The correlations with serum factors suggest that this membrane depolarization is related to endoneurial hyperkalemia and/or hypoxia. While other mechanisms of depolarization may well be involved, the degree to which potential-sensitive nerve excitability indices are related to serum potassium and bicarbonate suggests that other factors, independent of potassium and acid–base balance, are likely to be of relatively minor significance.

Imprint was observed for fatigued PZT (Zr/Ti = 53/47) capacitors which were subjected to a thermal cycle (at 80°C for a period of time). It was also observed for capacitors whose top electrode was defined by ion milling. In addition, capacitors with an asymmetric multilayered structure showed severe imprint problems. Based on the above observations, imprinting was categorized as:

1) Intrinsic imprint which is caused by inherent conditions such as device structure, configuration, and material composition.

2) Extrinsic imprint which is generated by external sources such as electrical stress, thermal stress, time, and processing.

Imprint mechanisms were discussed for each imprinting category. Most importantly, based on partial switching, a new memory logic was suggested. It is shown that stable imprinting may be useful for low density FRAM applications when the proposed new memory logic is applied. Reliability of the new logic was also shown to be significantly better than conventional operation.