The power of Trump-Speak : populist crisis narratives and ontological security

For most observers, the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States (US) came as a shock. This has been widely recast as the culmination of the American public’s long-standing dissatisfaction with the political elite and deep-seated frustrations with broader socio-economic conditions. We argue that the Trump campaign’s success also stemmed from its effective use of an emotionally charged, anti-establishment crisis narrative. With insights from political psychology, we examine the socio-linguistic mechanisms that underlie the effectiveness of ‘Trump-speak’ through both quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Trump’s communications toolkit during the 2016 US presidential election campaign. We show that his leadership legitimation claims rest significantly upon ‘crisis talk’ that puts his audience in a loss frame with nothing to lose and explain why ‘crisis talk’ impacts on political behaviour. As we demonstrate, the crisis stories that political agents tell simultaneously instil ontological insecurity among the American public and serve to transform their anxiety into confidence that the narrator’s policy agendas are the route back to ‘normality’. Through these rhetorical mechanisms, the Trump campaign manipulated individuals’ ontological (in)security as a tool in the politics of reassurance at the broader, societal level

Age differences in prospective memory for everyday life intentions : A diary approach

Peer reviewedPostprin

Entwicklung einer funktionellen Einheit bestehend aus Probenvorbereitung und Realtime PCR für die Diagnostik flüssiger Proben an ausgesuchten Modellorganismen

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Predicting the use of a COVID-19 contact tracing application: A study across two points of measurements

Contact tracing mobile applications (apps) were important in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Most previous studies predicting contact tracing app use were cross-sectional and not theory-based. This study aimed at contributing to a better understanding of app use intentions and app use by applying an extended version of the protection motivation theory across two measurement points while accounting for the development of the pandemic. A total of N = 1525 participants from Switzerland (Mage = 53.70, SD = 18.73; 47% female; n = 270 completed both assessments) reported on risk perceptions, response efficacy, self-efficacy, social norms, trust in government, trust in the healthcare system, active search of COVID-19-related information, intentions for and actual (self-reported) app use. Analyses included country-specific incidences and death toll. Increases in response-efficacy, self-efficacy, trust in government, and the active search of COVID-19-related information predicted increased app-use intentions. Increases in self-efficacy, intentions, and the active search of COVID-19-related information predicted increased self-reported app use. Risk perceptions, incidence, and death toll were unrelated to both outcomes. Across an aggravation of the pandemic situation, intentions for and app use were primarily related to response-efficacy, self-efficacy, trust in government, and the active search of COVID-19-related information

Desarrollo del pensamiento trigonométrico en la transición de la razón trigonométrica a la función trigonométrica

En el marco de una investigación de doctorado se estudia el desarrollo del pensamiento trigonométrico en la transición de la razón trigonométrica a la función trigonométrica, en el nivel bachillerato. Reportamos aquí una síntesis de la revisión bibliográfica realizada, para situar nuestro planteamiento de investigación y delinear algunos elementos teóricos que nos permitan llevar a cabo el estudio. En su mayoría, los resultados de investigación apuntan hacia dificultades y niveles de comprensión no deseados, vinculados a la falta de significado no sólo a las nociones trigonométricas, también a nociones previas necesarias y nociones que se articulan con ellas (por ejemplo: razón proporcional y función). Aquellos resultados con resultados positivos están cambiando lo que entienden por comprender las nociones trigonométricas y el tipo de actividades asociadas con su aprendizaje. En esta dirección estamos proponiendo nuestra investigación. La revisión bibliográfica, además de reportar el estado actual de la investigación didáctica relacionada con la Trigonometría, permitió identificar elementos teóricos y metodológicos que nos permitirán, respectivamente, estudiar el pensamiento matemático relativo a las nociones trigonométricas y controlar variables en el diseño de instrumentos para la intervención didáctica, en tanto proponemos una investigación basada en el diseño

How are excellence and trust for using artificial intelligence ensured? Evaluation of its current use in EU healthcare

Context: Artificial intelligence (AI) could be a key driver in different healthcare dossiers, ranging from preventive to diagnostic and treatment purposes. The establishment of the Artificial Intelligence High-Level Expert Group in the European Commission, as well as their White Paper, show first attempts of creating policies in the domain of artificial intelligence in the EU. Despite these policy approaches, there is a need for a coherent regulatory framework that enables the efficient use of AI in the field of health. The aim of this policy brief is to evaluate current legislative gaps in terms of the introduction of AI in healthcare, focusing on the domains of Data Protection, Liability & Transparency, as well as Robustness & Accuracy. Policy Options: This policy brief identified a high degree of eHealth infrastructure fragmentation on member state level and limited action towards a structured and coherent framework for AI in healthcare, under the domains of Data Protection, Liability & Transparency, and Robustness & Accuracy. Recommendations: A unified approach at EU-level, based on proposed recommendations and merged into the form of a Directive, is advised. The development of the Health-AI-Directive will bring progress and improvement to legal certainty in the European AI-landscape. The introduction of the Health-AI-Directive is recommended to ensure trust and excellence in the use of AI in healthcare

How are excellence and trust for using artificial intelligence ensured? Evaluation of its current use in EU healthcare

Context: Artificial intelligence (AI) could be a key driver in different healthcare dossiers, ranging from preventive to diagnostic and treatment purposes. The establishment of the Artificial Intelligence High-Level Expert Group in the European Commission, as well as their White Paper, show first attempts of creating policies in the domain of artificial intelligence in the EU. Despite these policy approaches, there is a need for a coherent regulatory framework that enables the efficient use of AI in the field of health. The aim of this policy brief is to evaluate current legislative gaps in terms of the introduction of AI in healthcare, focusing on the domains of Data Protection, Liability & Transparency, as well as Robustness & Accuracy. Policy Options: This policy brief identified a high degree of eHealth infrastructure fragmentation on member state level and limited action towards a structured and coherent framework for AI in healthcare, under the domains of Data Protection, Liability & Transparency, and Robustness & Accuracy. Recommendations: A unified approach at EU-level, based on proposed recommendations and merged into the form of a Directive, is advised. The development of the Health-AI-Directive will bring progress and improvement to legal certainty in the European AI-landscape. The introduction of the Health-AI-Directive is recommended to ensure trust and excellence in the use of AI in healthcare.   Acknowledgments: The authors of this policy brief would like to thank all our tutors, lecturers and professors of the M.Sc. Governance and Leadership in European Public Health, with special thanks to Kasia Czabanowska and Rok Hržič, for enabling and encouraging us in the creation of this policy brief. Authors’ contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work   Conflict of interest: None declared   Source of funding: None declare

Using Wearables to Study Biopsychosocial Dynamics in Couples Who Cope With a Chronic Health Condition: Ambulatory Assessment Study

Background: Technology has become an integral part of our everyday life, and its use to manage and study health is no exception. Romantic partners play a critical role in managing chronic health conditions as they tend to be a primary source of support. Objective: This study tests the feasibility of using commercial wearables to monitor couples’ unique way of communicating and supporting each other and documents the physiological correlates of interpersonal dynamics (ie, heart rate linkage). Methods: We analyzed 617 audio recordings of 5-minute duration (384 with concurrent heart rate data) and 527 brief self-reports collected from 11 couples in which 1 partner had type II diabetes during the course of their typical daily lives. Audio data were coded by trained raters for social support. The extent to which heart rate fluctuations were linked among couples was quantified using cross-correlations. Random-intercept multilevel models explored whether cross-correlations might differ by social contexts and exchanges. Results: Sixty percent of audio recordings captured speech between partners and partners reported personal contact with each other in 75% of self-reports. Based on the coding, social support was found in 6% of recordings, whereas at least 1 partner self-reported social support about half the time (53%). Couples, on average, showed small to moderate interconnections in their heart rate fluctuations (r=0.04-0.22). Couples also varied in the extent to which there was lagged linkage, that is, meaning that changes in one partner’s heart rate tended to precede changes in the other partner’s heart rate. Exploratory analyses showed that heart rate linkage was stronger (1) in rater-coded partner conversations (vs moments of no rater-coded partner conversations: rdiff=0.13; P=.03), (2) when partners self-reported interpersonal contact (vs moments of no self-reported interpersonal contact: rdiff=0.20; P<.001), and (3) when partners self-reported social support exchanges (vs moments of no self-reported social support exchange: rdiff=0.15; P=.004). Conclusions: Our study provides initial evidence for the utility of using wearables to collect biopsychosocial data in couples managing a chronic health condition in daily life. Specifically, heart rate linkage might play a role in fostering chronic disease management as a couple. Insights from collecting such data could inform future technology interventions to promote healthy lifestyle engagement and adaptive chronic disease management

CORK1, A LRR-Malectin Receptor Kinase, Is Required for Cellooligomer-Induced Responses in Arabidopsis thaliana

Cell wall integrity (CWI) maintenance is central for plant cells. Mechanical and chemical distortions, pH changes, and breakdown products of cell wall polysaccharides activate plasma membrane-localized receptors and induce appropriate downstream responses. Microbial interactions alter or destroy the structure of the plant cell wall, connecting CWI maintenance to immune responses. Cellulose is the major polysaccharide in the primary and secondary cell wall. Its breakdown generates short-chain cellooligomers that induce Ca 2+ -dependent CWI responses. We show that these responses require the malectin domain-containing CELLOOLIGOMER-RECEPTOR KINASE 1 (CORK1) in Arabidopsis and are preferentially activated by cellotriose (CT). CORK1 is required for cellooligomer-induced cytoplasmic Ca 2+ elevation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitogen-associated protein kinase (MAPK) activation, cellulose synthase phosphorylation, and the regulation of CWI-related genes, including those involved in biosynthesis of cell wall material, secondary metabolites and tryptophan. Phosphoproteome analyses identified early targets involved in signaling, cellulose synthesis, the endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi secretory pathway, cell wall repair and immune responses. Two conserved phenylalanine residues in the malectin domain are crucial for CORK1 function. We propose that CORK1 is required for CWI and immune responses activated by cellulose breakdown products

South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization