Meeting of minds - European citizens' deliberation on brain sciences : final report of the external evaluation

The major objective of the external evaluation is to review the methodological concept, the procedural design and the actual performance of the ECD-Project. The focus of the evaluation lies on the European process level, i.e. the two Citizens’ Conventions were the focal events for the external evaluation. After these events, the team of Dialogik accumulated the interim results in form of two reports, which are attached to this volume. The following conclusions are based on the insights described in these interim reports. They convey a more holistic picture of the overall process without getting lost in each detail. The main research question of the evaluation is how the dialogue processes were initiated and how they were sustained during the whole project. The development of communication and deliberation leading to a common statement of European citizens about brain science was one major concern of this analysis, which focused on process-related and organizational issues. The task to evaluate the ECD-Project was an inspiring but also demanding endeavour. A lot of data was collected during the process and an enormous n umber of sources for additional information was available for further analysis. One problem to be solved was to find an adequate theoretically appropriate and practically feasible perspective for the examination of all important activities. The other problem was to find the right balance between measuring subjective impressions and evaluations based on a set of objective criteria or benchmarks. Subjective aspects such as the assessments of the participants are relevant, but a comprehensive assessment also needs additional information sources, which can be used as benchmarks for assessing successes or failures of the process. The methods used in this evaluation include both aspects. The acronym ECD stands for “European Citizens’ Deliberation”, which is the description of the basic method of the Meeting of Minds-Project. Both terms were used synonymously in this report. Meeting of Minds is an initiative of the partner consortium comprising the King Baudouin Foundation, the University of Westminster, the Flemish Institute for Science and Technology Assessment, the Danish Board of Technology, the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, the Stiftung Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, the Fondazione IDIS Città della Scienza, the Rathenau Institute, the Science Museum, the University of Debrecen, the Eugenides Foundation, the University of Liège, SPIRAL. The initiative has the support of the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development in the European Union

European citizens' consultations project : final evaluation report

The report summarises the findings of the evalaution project focused on the European Citizens Consultations Project. The evaluation was conducted on behalf of the King Baudouin Foundation, Brussels. Its major objective was to review the methodological concept and design, but also the organisational and process-related qualities of the European Citizens’ Consultations (ECC) project. The evaluation especially focused on the conditions, the promoting and impeding factors for initiating, conducting and sustaining a constructive dialogue among citizens from all EU member countries. The evaluation was mainly based on four criteria: fairness, competence, efficiency and transparency. The ECC dialogue process (www.european-citizens-consultations.eu) was initiated by the Agenda-Setting Event in Brussels in October 2006 with 200 citizens from all EU countries. In February and March 2007, national consultation events took place in each member state of the European Union. The purpose of the national consultation processes was to further elaborate the topics that were developed and selected during the Agenda-Setting Event. The final report was adopted in May 2007 during the final event in Brussels (Synthesis Event) by citizens from all European countries. The evaluation team of DIALOGIK used three main methods for data input and processing: ·Direct observations during all events at European level and 12 selected national consultation events (documentation of general and specific features of the dialogue process by using a pre-structured observation sheet) ·Personal/telephone interviews with key actors (coordinators, facilitators, stakeholders and involved citizens) as well as ·Written surveys among the participants during all events at European level and the selected national consultations to elicit participants’ perceptions and assessments regarding the process and the results developed. In addition, the evaluation team analysed the project’s website and other documents of the ECC-project as well as “external” websites. For getting impressions on the repercussions in the media, the evaluation team conducted a media analysis of a number of sources

Multimessenger Search for Sources of Gravitational Waves and High-Energy Neutrinos: Results for Initial LIGO-Virgo and IceCube

We report the results of a multimessenger search for coincident signals from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories and the partially completed IceCube high-energy neutrino detector, including periods of joint operation between 2007-2010. These include parts of the 2005-2007 run and the 2009-2010 run for LIGO-Virgo, and IceCube's observation periods with 22, 59 and 79 strings. We find no significant coincident events, and use the search results to derive upper limits on the rate of joint sources for a range of source emission parameters. For the optimistic assumption of gravitational-wave emission energy of $10^{-2}$\,M$_\odot$c$^2$ at $\sim 150$\,Hz with $\sim 60$\,ms duration, and high-energy neutrino emission of $10^{51}$\,erg comparable to the isotropic gamma-ray energy of gamma-ray bursts, we limit the source rate below $1.6 \times 10^{-2}$\,Mpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$. We also examine how combining information from gravitational waves and neutrinos will aid discovery in the advanced gravitational-wave detector era

Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ∼ 1.7 {{s}} with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of {40}-8+8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 {M}ȯ . An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ∼ 40 {{Mpc}}) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ∼ 9 and ∼ 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.</p

Erfolgreiche Bürger-Behörden-Kontakte

In dieser Diplomarbeit wird eine Beziehungsstruktur von Konstrukten erarbeitet und empirisch geprüft, die den grundsätzlichen und insbesondere den differenzierten Einfluss von Vertrauen auf die Zufriedenheit mit einem spezifischen Kontakt zwischen Bürger und Behörde abbildet

Die Beziehungsstruktur zwischen der Nutzen- und der Risikobewertung sowie der Unterstützung von Techniken im Bereich Biotechnologie | Integrative Untersuchung der Eurobarometer-Studien 1991–2005

Integrative Analysis of the Relationship between three Assessment Aspects of Biotechnological Applications: Perceived Benefit, Perceived Risk and the General Support of a Technology based on six German Eurobarometer-Studies (1991–2005)Focusing on three areas of specific biotechnological applications, this article investigates the relationship between public assessments on risk and benefit of a technology as well as the general support for this technology. Six Eurobarometer-Studies, gathered between 1991 and 2005, constitute the data base for this endeavor. The relationship between the perceived risk and the perceived benefit of biotechnology turns out to be a spurious correlation when controlled by the ‘support’ variable. Both variables, the risk and benefit assessment remain in a statistically robust relationship to the general support of the respective technology, indicating a Halo-Effect. Meta-analytical instruments are used to investigate the relationship between risk assessment and the general support of a technology. They reveal an increasing strength of the relationship between both variables over time. The media coverage is discussed as an important influencing factor for this finding