Pre-Analysis Plan and Registered Report Templates

Templates for Pre-Analsysis Plan (written by Alejandro Ganimian) and for Registered Reports--suggested format for Journal of Development Economic

Situation Construal and Situational Judgment Tests

Data and code to Freudenstein, J.-P., Schäpers, P., Roemer, L., Mussel, P., & Krumm, S. (2020). Is it all in the eye of the beholder? The importance of situation construal for situational judgment test performance. Personnel Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.1238

What is rich?

Validation of the subjective wealth image

Guidelines for reporting methodological studies in health research

The primary objective of this work is to develop a guideline to standardize the nomenclature and reporting of methodological studies in the context of health research (e.g. meta-epidemiological studies, methodological reviews, systematic surveys, etc.). Based on consensus with expert stakeholders, this guideline and accompanying statement will highlight the necessary methodological features that should be included when reporting methodological studies

Voting and Climate Change: How an Extreme Weather Event Increased Support for a Radical-Right Incumbent in Italy

We empirically assess two contrasting predictions that disasters related to climate change raise support for (1) environmentalist parties and (2) incumbents that successfully provide disaster relief. We study the electoral effects of Vaia, a devastating storm that hit the mountainous area of northeast Italy in 2018. We measure the storm's material consequences combining satellite and georeferenced data on forest disruption, blackout-related changes in nightlights intensity, and damage relief, and exploit the stark variation in damage intensity between adjacent and closely similar municipalities in a stringent difference-in-differences design. The storm significantly increased support for the regional incumbent – the radical-right Lega in most affected provinces – and did not generate positive electoral returns for parties with environmentalist platforms. More research is needed to understand under which conditions exposure to extreme weather events activates support for environmentalist policy

The UnCODE system: A neurocentric systems approach for classifying the goals and methods of Cognitive Warfare

Cognitive Warfare takes advantage of novel developments in technology and science to influence how target populations think and act. Establishing adequate defense against Cognitive Warfare requires examination of modus operandi to understand this emerging action space. This includes the goals and methods that can be realized through science and technology. Recent literature suggests that both human and nonhuman cognition should be considered as targets of Cognitive Warfare. There are currently no frameworks allowing for a unified way of conceptualizing short-term and long-term Cognitive Warfare goals and attack methods that are domain- and species-agnostic. There is a need for a framework developed through a bottom-up approach that is informed by neuroscientific principles to capture relevant aspects of cognition. The framework should be at a level of complexity that is actionable to decision-makers in war. In this paper, we attempt to cover the existing gap by proposing the Unplug, Corrupt, disOrganize, Diagnose, Enhance (UnCODE) system for classifying the goals and methods of Cognitive Warfare. The system is neurocentric by conceptualizing Cognitive Warfare goals from the perspective of how adversarial methods relate to neural information processing in an individual or society. The UnCODE system identifies five main classes of goals: 1) Eliminating a target’s ability to produce outputs, 2) degrading a target’s capacity to process inputs and produce outputs, 3) biasing a target’s input-output activity, 4) monitoring and understanding the input-output relationships in targets, and 5) enhancing a target’s capacity and ability to process inputs and produce outputs. Methods can be divided in two categories based on access to the target’s neural system: direct access and indirect access. The UnCODE system is domain- and species-agnostic and allows for interdisciplinary commensurability when communicating attack paths across domains. In sum, the UnCODE system is a unifying framework that captures that multiple methods can be used to reach the same Cognitive Warfare goals

Multidimensionality of Romantic Orientation among the Aromantic/Asexual Spectrum in Japan

In recent years, the aromantic/asexual spectrum has become more visible in Japan, and research on sexual orientation among the aromantic/asexual spectrum remains limited but is increasing. However, there is extremely little research that focuses on romantic orientation. Studies on romantic orientation in Western countries tend to discuss aromanticism as one of the romantic orientations that asexual people possess. In Japan, on the other hand, the framing of romantic orientation in the aromantic/asexual spectrum community differs from that in Western countries, as the terminology in Japan occasionally labels someone “asexual” only if they are neither romantically nor sexually attracted to other people. Furthermore, extant quantitative research tends to be limited to discussions that rely on the dichotomy of aromantic or not, despite findings from community-based surveys that suggest romantic orientation is multifaceted, making it necessary to discuss various dimensions of romantic orientation. This study used the “Aromantic/Asexual Spectrum Survey 2020,” a web survey conducted by the Aro/Ace Survey Executive Committee, to examine the multidimensionality of romantic orientation by describing romantic identity, romantic attraction, and romantic desire. Findings indicated that the distributions of romantic attraction before and after self-identification as aro-ace differed by aromantic spectrum identity, such as alloromantic, aromantic, gray(a)romantic, demiromantic, lithromantic, and questioning. Differences by aromantic spectrum identity were also observed in the distributions of deep interest in a particular person, romantic excitement, and the desire to date. Items related to desires that involve actions with others, such as the desire to date, tended to have a lower percentage of positive responses than items related to desires that do not necessarily involve actions with others, such as deep interest in a particular person and romantic excitement

Preclinical investigation on the efficacy of NR4A1-agonist Cytosporon-B for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Background Immune cell immigration and activation play a central role within the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke. In a recent preclinical study, we demonstrated that the nuclear receptor NR4A1 has a potential protective role within the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia. NR4A1-deficient mice subjected to experimental stroke (middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO) develop an increased neutrophil influx, increased brain damage and worsened functional outcome. In an extended gain-of-function experiment, we now aim to clarify whether NR4A1-activation using the NR4A1-specific ligand Cytosporone-B results in enhanced functional recovery and reduced tissue damage in the ischemic rodent brain. Preliminary data from experiments in male mice indicate that activation of NR4A1 results in reduced numbers of intracerebral neutrophil granulocytes, improved functional recovery and reduced tissue damage. In order to fulfill fundamental quality standards for preclinical studies, these findings shall now be validated in a bicentric study. For this purpose, experiments will be repeated at the original research site (University of Muenster, Germany) in female mice and subsequently in both male and female mice at a second study-center (University Hospital Essen, Germany). Assignment to groups (placebo versus active substance) will be performed with a random number generator (GraphPad Prism - assign subjects to groups). Both, drug and placebo units will be coded in a blinded manner and provided by the Muenster site. Subsequent functional testing, evaluation of functional data and determination of infarct volumes will be performed in a blinded fashion. Unblinding as well as group-assignment will be performed after data collection. Infarct volume will be used as the primary outcome measure; functional recovery as a secondary outcome measure. In addition, histological analyses will be performed at the end of the proposed project to decipher the role of NR4A1 activation on potentially protective / regenerative neutrophils. In order to fulfill fundamental requirements of preclinical trials, the following protocol has been established: harmonization of experimental protocols among both study centers, a priori sample size calculation, randomization of the treatment groups and blinding of all investigators. Cytosporone-B treatment Cytosporone-B or the corresponding placebo (16.5% DMSO in PBS) will be applied to wildtype mice (13 mg/kg body weight, i.p.) 3h after induction of reperfusion. Middle cerebral artery occlusion Occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCAO) will be induced in anesthetized mice under maintenance of 37˚C body temperature during the whole procedure. After midline neck incision, the left common artery and carotid bifurcation will be exposed and the external and proximal left common arteries will be ligated subsequently. Retrograde perfusion of the left common carotid artery will be transiently interrupted using a microvascular clip. The common carotid artery will then be incised using a micro-dissecting scissors, and a silicon-coated 8–0 nylon monofilament (701956PK5Re or 702056PK5Re, Doccol Corporation, Sharon, MA) is going to be advanced into the middle cerebral artery. Following 30 minutes of MCA occlusion, the filament will be retracted to allow reperfusion of the MCA. Functional testing For comparison of sensorimotor deficits the foot fault test will be used. In the foot fault test, the animals are placed individually on an elevated 10-mm square wire mesh (total grid area of 40 cm x 40 cm) and are subsequently videotaped while walking freely for 2 minutes. The number of foot faults as well as the total number of total steps is counted. The percentage of foot faults is then calculated as number of foot faults of the affected limb / number of total steps of the affected limb*100. Inclusion criteria: - Duration of the MCAO procedure ≤ 60 minutes. - Sufficient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery for 30 minutes. - Successful application of the placebo / agent. Exclusion criteria: - Duration of the MCAO procedure > 60 minutes. - Insufficient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery - Intraoperative bleeding - Animal is circling after MCAO - Weight loss of ≥ 20% - Persistent abnormal posture Based on our results following Cytosporon-B application (3 hours after MCAO) in male mice (placebo infarctvolume 39.85±11.6 vs. Cytosporon-B infarctvolume 24.7±14.1), the following animal numbers were calculated (GPower 3.1.9.2): t tests - Means: Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test (two groups) Analysis: A priori: Compute required sample size Input Tail(s) = One Parent distribution = Normal Effect size d = 1.191 α err prob = 0.05 Power (1-β err prob) = 0.8 Allocation ratio N2/N1 = 1 Output: Noncentrality parameter δ = 2.60 Critical t = 1.74 Df = 17.1 Sample size group 1 = 10 Sample size group 2 = 10 Total sample size = 20 Actual power = 0.803 Group size is n=10. Date of registration: 03 January 2023 Study start date: 23 January 2023 Anticipated completion date: 31 May 2023 Country: Germany Funding: This study is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CRC TRR332 TP B2) Prelimininary data has been published at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.27.482146v1 No conflicts of interest are to report. Contact details for further information: [email protected]

Understanding workplace bullying perpetration: Profiling of targets, perpetrators, and target-perpetrators to Inform Intervention Strategies

Understanding workplace bullying perpetration: Profiling of targets, perpetrators, and target-perpetrators to Inform Intervention Strategie