Relational skill assets and anti-immigrant sentiments.

This study introduces the role of relational skill assets in accounting for attitudes toward immigrants: relational skill assets. Drawing upon stratification researchers' notion of "non-cognitive skills," we build a theoretical framework highlighting the role of occupational skill requirements in explaining anti-immigrant sentiment. Then, utilizing two occupation-specific measures, interpersonal skill requirement and instrumental skill requirement, we construct an explanatory factor, relational skill specificity. We test its effect on anti-immigrant attitudes as well as on the concentration of foreign-born workers in occupations, using the 2004 national identity module of General Social Survey. The findings confirm our argument that workers with a higher possession of interpersonal skill assets relative to instrumental skill assets are exposed to less intense competitions with immigrants, and are therefore less likely to express anti-immigrant sentiments. Our findings suggest that occupational-level relational skill assets based on sociocultural differences play an important role in shaping native workers' attitudes' toward immigrants.

People in historically rice-farming areas are less happy and socially compare more than people in wheat-farming areas.

Using two nationally representative surveys, we find that people in China's historically rice-farming areas are less happy than people in wheat areas. This is a puzzle because the rice area is more interdependent, and relationships are an important predictor of happiness. We explore how the interdependence of historical rice farming may have paradoxically undermined happiness by creating more social comparison than wheat farming. We build a framework in which rice farming leads to social comparison, which makes people unhappy (especially people who are worse off). If people in rice areas socially compare more, then people's happiness in rice areas should be more closely related to markers of social status like income. In two studies, national survey data show that income, self-reported social status, and occupational status predict people's happiness twice as strongly in rice areas than wheat areas. In Study 3, we use a unique natural experiment comparing two nearby state farms that effectively randomly assigned people to farm rice or wheat. The rice farmers socially compare more, and farmers who socially compare more are less happy. If interdependence breeds social comparison and erodes happiness, it could help explain the paradox of why the interdependent cultures of East Asia are less happy than similarly wealthy cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

How Rice Fights Pandemics: Nature-Crop-Human Interactions Shaped COVID-19 Outcomes.

Wealthy nations led health preparedness rankings in 2019, yet many poor nations controlled COVID-19 better. We argue that a history of rice farming explains why some societies did better. We outline how traditional rice farming led to tight social norms and low-mobility social networks. These social structures helped coordinate societies against COVID-19. Study 1 compares rice- and wheat-farming prefectures within China. Comparing within China allows for controlled comparisons of regions with the same national government, language family, and other potential confounds. Study 2 tests whether the findings generalize to cultures globally. The data show rice-farming nations have tighter social norms and less-mobile relationships, which predict better COVID outcomes. Rice-farming nations suffered just 3% of the COVID deaths of nonrice nations. These findings suggest that long-run cultural differences influence how rice societies-with over 50% of the world's population-controlled COVID-19. The culture was critical, yet the preparedness rankings mostly ignored it.

Evaluation of the antiviral activity of chlorine dioxide and sodium hypochlorite against feline calicivirus, human influenza virus, measles virus, canine distemper virus, human herpesvirus, human adenovirus, canine adenovirus and canine parvovirus.

We evaluated the antiviral activity of a chlorine dioxide gas solution (CD) and sodium hypochlorite (SH) against feline calicivirus, human influenza virus, measles virus, canine distemper virus, human herpesvirus, human adenovirus, canine adenovirus and canine parvovirus. CD at concentrations ranging from 1 to 100 ppm produced potent antiviral activity, inactivating >or= 99.9% of the viruses with a 15 sec treatment for sensitization. The antiviral activity of CD was approximately 10 times higher than that of SH.

Inactivation of feline calicivirus, a norovirus surrogate, by chlorine dioxide gas.

The efficacy of gaseous chlorine dioxide (ClO2) against feline calicivirus (FCV), a norovirus surrogate, in the dry and the wet states on a hard surface was evaluated. We demonstrated that low-concentration ClO2 gas (mean 0.08 ppm, 0.22 microg/I) could inactivate FCV in the wet state with 0.5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) within 6 h in 45 to 55% relative humidity (RH) (> 3 log10 reductions) and FCV in the dry state with 2% FBS (percentage of FBS in the viral suspension) within 10 h in 75 to 85% RH (> 3 log10 reductions) at 20 degrees C, respectively. Furthermore, a < 0.3 ppm concentration of ClO2 gas (mean 0.26 ppm, 0.73 microg/l) could inactivate (below the detection limit) FCV in the dry state with 5% FBS within 24 h in 75 to 85% RH at 20 degrees C. In contrast, in 45 to 55% RH at 20 degrees C, ClO2 gas had little effect even when the FCV in the dry state was exposed to high-concentration ClO2 (mean 8 ppm, 22.4 microg/l) for 24 h. These results suggest that humidity plays an important role in the inactivation by ClO2 gas of FCV in the dry state. According to the International Chemical Safety Card, threshold limit values for ClO2 gas are 0.1 ppm as an 8-h time-weighted average and 0.3 ppm as a 15 min short-term exposure limit. From these data, we propose that the treatment of wet areas of human activity such as kitchens, toilets, etc., with low-concentration ClO2 gas would be useful for reducing the risk of infection by noroviruses (NV) without adverse effects. In addition, we believe that the application of a combination of a < 0.3 ppm concentration of ClO2 gas and a humidifier in places without human activity may make it possible to inactivate NV in the dry state on any surface within a contaminated room without serious adverse effects.

Six-month low level chlorine dioxide gas inhalation toxicity study with two-week recovery period in rats.

BACKGROUND: Chlorine dioxide (CD) gas has a potent antimicrobial activity at extremely low concentration and may serve as a new tool for infection control occupationally as well as publicly. However, it remains unknown whether the chronic exposure of CD gas concentration effective against microbes is safe. Therefore, long-term, low concentration CD gas inhalation toxicity was studied in rats as a six-month continuous whole-body exposure followed by a two-week recovery period, so as to prove that the CD gas exposed up to 0.1 ppm (volume ratio) is judged as safe on the basis of a battery of toxicological examinations. METHODS: CD gas at 0.05 ppm or 0.1 ppm for 24 hours/day and 7 days/week was exposed to rats for 6 months under an unrestrained condition with free access to chow and water in a chamber so as to simulate the ordinary lifestyle in human. The control animals were exposed to air only. During the study period, the body weight as well as the food and water consumptions were recorded. After the 6-month exposure and the 2-week recovery period, animals were sacrificed and a battery of toxicological examinations, including biochemistry, hematology, necropsy, organ weights and histopathology, were performed. RESULTS: Well regulated levels of CD gas were exposed throughout the chamber over the entire study period. No CD gas-related toxicity sign was observed during the whole study period. No significant difference was observed in body weight gain, food and water consumptions, and relative organ weight. In biochemistry and hematology examinations, changes did not appear to be related to CD gas toxicity. In necropsy and histopathology, no CD gas-related toxicity was observed even in expected target respiratory organs. CONCLUSIONS: CD gas up to 0.1 ppm, exceeding the level effective against microbes, exposed to whole body in rats continuously for six months was not toxic, under a condition simulating the conventional lifestyle in human.