How does nudging the COVID-19 vaccine play out in people who are in doubt about vaccination?

In spite of the growing availability of COVID-19 vaccines, a substantial number of people is reluctant or uncertain about getting the vaccine. Nudges may improve vaccine uptake but it is unclear how this plays out with the experience of autonomous choice, decision competence, decision satisfaction, and being pressured to make a choice. In an online experiment among a representative sample (N = 884), we examined whether a social norm nudge or a default nudge (either or not transparent) was effective in steering the desired choice of making a hypothetical early vaccination appointment as compared to making a later appointment or no appointment. We also examined how both nudges affected autonomy and related downstream consequences. None of the nudges proved effective in making the desired choice of early vaccination and neither did they impact on downstream consequences. Rather, our results indicate that participants who were certain about their choice (i.e., opted for the earliest available vaccination opportunity or not getting vaccinated at all) reported higher levels of autonomy, competence and satisfaction than participants who did not know yet about vaccination or who postponed the moment of getting their vaccination. We conclude that the experience of autonomy and related downstream consequences is determined by having made up one's mind about vaccination, and is not affected by attempts to nudge the individual. Public Health and primary carePrevention, Population and Disease management (PrePoD

Analytical description of the transmembrane voltage induced on arbitrarily oriented ellipsoidal and cylindrical cells.

We present an analytical equation for the transmembrane voltage (Deltaphi) induced by a homogeneous AC field on arbitrarily oriented cells of the general ellipsoidal shape. The equation generalizes the Schwan equation for spherical cells and describes the dependence of Deltaphi on field frequency, cell size and shape, membrane capacitance, conductivities of cytoplasm, membrane and external medium, the location of the membrane site under consideration, and on the orientation of the cell with respect to the field. The derivation is based on the fact that the cytoplasm and the Maxwellian equivalent body of the whole cell are both of a general ellipsoidal shape and must thus exhibit constant local fields. The constant fields allow for a relatively simple description of the potentials on the internal and external membrane sides, leading to Deltaphi. For this, the properties of cytoplasm, membrane, and external medium have been introduced into a special, finite element model. We found that Deltaphi can be unambiguously defined for non-spherical cells, provided that the membrane thickness is thin in comparison to the cell dimensions

A polarization model overcoming the geometric restrictions of the laplace solution for spheroidal cells: obtaining new equations for field-induced forces and transmembrane potential.

We present a new model for a variety of electric polarization effects on oblate and prolate homogeneous and single-shell spheroids. For homogeneous spheroids the model is identical to the Laplace model. For single-shell spheres of cell-like geometry the calculated difference of the induced dipole moments is in the thousandths range. To solve Laplace's equation for nonspherical single-shell objects it is necessary to assume a confocal shell, which results in different cell membrane properties in the pole and equator regions, respectively. Our alternative model addresses this drawback. It assumes that the disturbance of the external field due to polarization may project into the medium to a characteristic distance, the influential radius. This parameter is related to the axis ratio of the spheroid over the depolarizing factors and allows us to determine the geometry for a finite resistor-capacitor model. From this model the potential at the spheroid's surface is obtained and, consequently, the local field inside a homogeneous spheroid is determined. In the single-shell case, this is the effective local field of an equivalent homogeneous spheroid. Finally, integration over the volume yields the frequency-dependent induced dipole moment. The resistor-capacitor approach allowed us to find simple equations for the critical and characteristic frequencies, force plateaus and peak heights of deformation, dielectrophoresis and electrorotation for homogeneous and single-shell spheroids, and a more generalized equation for the induced transmembrane potential of spheroidal cells

A unified resistor-capacitor model for impedance, dielectrophoresis, electrorotation, and induced transmembrane potential.

Dielectric properties of suspended cells are explored by analysis of the frequency-dependent response to electric fields. Impedance (IMP) registers the electric response, and kinetic phenomena like orientation, translation, deformation, or rotation can also be analyzed. All responses can generally be described by a unified theory. This is demonstrated by an RC model for the structural polarizations of biological cells, allowing intuitive comparison of the IMP, dielectrophoresis (DP), and electrorotation (ER) methods. For derivations, cells of prismatic geometry embedded in elementary cubes formed by the external solution were assumed. All geometrical constituents of the model were described by parallel circuits of a capacitor and a resistor. The IMP of the suspension is given by a meshwork of elementary cubes. Each elementary cube was modeled by two branches describing the current flow through and around the cell. To model DP and ER, the external branch was subdivided to obtain a reference potential. Real and imaginary parts of the potential difference of the cell surface and the reference reflect the frequency behavior of DP and ER. The scheme resembles an unbalanced Wheatstone bridge, in which IMP measures the current-voltage behavior of the feed signal and DP and ER are the measuring signal. Model predictions were consistent with IMP, DP, and ER experiments on human red cells, as well as with the frequency dependence of field-induced hemolysis. The influential radius concept is proposed, which allows easy derivation of simplified equations for the characteristic properties of a spherical single-shell model on the basis of the RC model

Does default organ donation registration compromise autonomous choice?: Public responses to a new donor registration system

Health and self-regulatio

Digital fabrication of support structures for improved mechanical stability of fragile microsieves

We introduce a method to improve the mechanical stability of thin sieves by applying a support matrix through inkjet printing. Different suitable materials are printed in defined structures, such as honeycombs, either directly on the sieve or on a subcarrier. The digital technology allows the variation of the three-dimensional geometry of the printed pattern, whereby an optimum has to be found between the coverage of the pores, the permeability of the microsieve and its mechanical stability. The benefit of this method is the opportunity to produce and apply the microsieves in large-area-applications