Verwendung von Einzeldaten aus der Verbraucherpreisstatistik für regionale Preisvergleiche

Mit der Berechnung des Verbraucherpreisindex für Deutschland liegen in der amtlichen Statistik monatlich umfassende und detaillierte Informationen über die Preisentwicklung im Zeitablauf vor. Besteht die Fragestellung jedoch darin, zu einem gegebenen Zeitpunkt die Unterschiede im Preisniveau verschiedener Regionen innerhalb von Deutschland zu untersuchen, so sind gegenwärtig keine ausreichenden Informationen verfügbar. Für den zeitlichen Preisvergleich werden in den verschiedenen Städten unterschiedliche Produkte als „Preisrepräsentanten“ ausgewählt. Wegen dieser regionalen Unterschiede bei den ausgewählten Produkten sind die Preisbeobachtungen des Verbraucherpreisindex nicht direkt für einen räumlichen Preisvergleich geeignet. Bisher wurden daher für den Zweck der räumlichen Preisniveaumessung in unregelmäßigen Abständen eigenständige Erhebungen durchgeführt, die speziell auf den regionalen Preisvergleich zugeschnitten und sehr aufwändig waren. Eine solche Erhebung wurde zuletzt 1993 durchgeführt (im Folgenden als „Zwischenörtlicher Preisvergleich von 1993“ bezeichnet und fand seitdem aus Kostengründen nicht mehr statt. Da die Ergebnisse von 1993 mittlerweile veraltet sein dürften, besteht im System der deutschen amtlichen Preisstatistik eine Lücke im Hinblick auf Daten zum Vergleich der Preisniveaus verschiedener Regionen innerhalb von Deutschland.

Overcoming Cloud Concerns with Trusted Execution Environments? Exploring the Organizational Perception of a Novel Security Technology in Regulated Swiss Companies

Trusted execution environments are a new approach for isolating data, specific parts of code, or an entire application within untrusted cloud environments. This emerging security technology could also enable the migration to cloud infrastructures for organizations working with highly sensitive data. As current research does not address the organizational perception of trusted execution environments (TEEs), we conducted an explorative study to clarify the technological, environmental, and organizational views on this technology by health care, life sciences, and banking companies in Switzerland. The interview findings show that in these industries, missing technological knowledge as well as privacy and process regulation are perceived to be the most critical driver for organizational adoption of TEEs. The identified low intrinsic motivation to adopt novel technologies permits us to conclude that clarifying the regulatory impact of TEEs could drive future adoption by organizations

Altering an Artificial Gagpolnef Polyprotein and Mode of ENV Co-Administration Affects the Immunogenicity of a Clade C HIV DNA Vaccine

HIV-1 candidate vaccines expressing an artificial polyprotein comprising Gag, Pol and Nef (GPN) and a secreted envelope protein (Env) were shown in recent Phase I/II clinical trials to induce high levels of polyfunctional T cell responses; however, Env-specific responses clearly exceeded those against Gag. Here, we assess the impact of the GPN immunogen design and variations in the formulation and vaccination regimen of a combined GPN/Env DNA vaccine on the T cell responses against the various HIV proteins. Subtle modifications were introduced into the GPN gene to increase Gag expression, modify the expression ratio of Gag to PolNef and support budding of virus-like particles. I.m. administration of the various DNA constructs into BALB/c mice resulted in an up to 10-fold increase in Gag- and Pol-specific IFNγ+ CD8+ T cells compared to GPN. Co-administering Env with Gag or GPN derivatives largely abrogated Gag-specific responses. Alterations in the molar ratio of the DNA vaccines and spatially or temporally separated administration induced more balanced T cell responses. Whereas forced co-expression of Gag and Env from one plasmid induced predominantly Env-specific T cells responses, deletion of the only H-2d T cell epitope in Env allowed increased levels of Gag-specific T cells, suggesting competition at an epitope level. Our data demonstrate that the biochemical properties of an artificial polyprotein clearly influence the levels of antigen-specific T cells, and variations in formulation and schedule can overcome competition for the induction of these responses. These results are guiding the design of ongoing pre-clinical and clinical trials

Broad Antibody Mediated Cross-Neutralization and Preclinical Immunogenicity of New Codon-Optimized HIV-1 Clade CRF02_AG and G Primary Isolates

Creation of an effective vaccine for HIV has been an elusive goal of the scientific community for almost 30 years. Neutralizing antibodies are assumed to be pivotal to the success of a prophylactic vaccine but previous attempts to make an immunogen capable of generating neutralizing antibodies to primary “street strain” isolates have resulted in responses of very limited breadth and potency. The objective of the study was to determine the breadth and strength of neutralizing antibodies against autologous and heterologous primary isolates in a cohort of HIV-1 infected Nigerians and to characterize envelopes from subjects with particularly broad or strong immune responses for possible use as vaccine candidates in regions predominated by HIV-1 CRF02_AG and G subtypes. Envelope vectors from a panel of primary Nigerian isolates were constructed and tested with plasma/sera from the same cohort using the PhenoSense HIV neutralizing antibody assay (Monogram Biosciences Inc, USA) to assess the breadth and potency of neutralizing antibodies. The immediate goal of this study was realized by the recognition of three broadly cross-neutralizing sera: (NG2-clade CRF02_AG, NG3-clade CRF02_AG and NG9- clade G). Based on these findings, envelope gp140 sequences from NG2 and NG9, complemented with a gag sequence (Clade G) and consensus tat (CRF02_AG and G) antigens have been codon-optimized, synthesized, cloned and evaluated in BALB/c mice. The intramuscular administration of these plasmid DNA constructs, followed by two booster DNA immunizations, induced substantial specific humoral response against all constructs and strong cellular responses against the gag and tat constructs. These preclinical findings provide a framework for the design of candidate vaccine for use in regions where the HIV-1 epidemic is driven by clades CRF02_AG and G

Evaluation of a vibrotactile feedback device for spatial guidance

In the present study, a vibrotactile feedback device for spatial guidance was evaluated in a tracking task paradigm. Participants (N = 18) had to translate and rotate virtual objects according to the vibrotactile vs. verbal cues without visual information. Both types of spatial guidance were evaluated using objective performance data (i.e. speed, accuracy) as well as subjective judgments. Results indicate that distinguishing spatial cues during the translational task was more difficult when being guided by vibrotactile feedback compared to verbal feedback. Nevertheless, individuals with vibrotactile guidance showed better performance at rotational tasks. Implications for the further design process and other areas of application are discussed

Vibrotaktiles Feedback zur Aufmerksamkeitslenkung bei komplexen Lotsentätigkeiten

Komplexe Arbeitsbereiche zeichnen sich oftmals durch eine hohe visuelle und akustische Informationsdichte aus. Mithilfe von Assistenzsystemen kann die Informationskomplexität reduziert und beispielsweise die Aufmerksamkeit auf relevante Ereignisse gelenkt werden. Konventionellerweise wird dabei vorwiegend der visuelle oder akustische Informationskanal gewählt, um den Operateur bei seiner Tätigkeit zu unterstützen. Ein alternativer Ansatz zur Optimierung der Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstelle ist die Nutzung des taktilen Kanals. In einer Mikroweltstudie sollte ein vibrotaktiles Assistenzsystem mit einem visuellen bzw. einem akustischen Assistenzsystem bei einer komplexen Lotsenaufgabe im Anflugbereich verglichen werden. Die Aufgabe der 36 Versuchspersonen war es, zwei unterschiedliche Verkehrsströme kurz vor der Landebahn zusammenzuführen (Late-Merging-Operation). Dabei mussten die Probanden einen Teil des Anflugverkehrs aktiv führen und zugleich die Positionen autonom anfliegender Flugzeuge mitverfolgen. Um das Situationsbewusstsein für Flugzeuge, die nicht aktiv geführt werden, aufrechtzuerhalten, wurde beim Erreichen kritischer Wegpunkte in der Routenstruktur vibrotaktiles vs. visuelles vs. akustisches Feedback gegeben. Vibrotaktiles Feedback wurde dabei mit dem vom DLR entwickelten Feedbacksystem VibroTac gegeben. Die Ergebnisse der Studie weisen darauf hin, dass zusätzliches Feedback beim Erreichen wichtiger Wegpunkte einen positiven Effekt auf die visuelle Aufmerksamkeitsverteilung und das Situationsbewusstsein hat. Differentielle Effekte der drei Feedbackmodi und praktische Implikationen werden diskutiert

Air traffic controller assistance systems for attention direction: Comparing visual, auditory, and tactile feedback

Modern aircrafts have the capability to perform fuel-efficient and noise-reduced continuous descent approaches (CDA). A major obstacle to use these capabilities for approaching an airport is the synchronization of CDA-traffic and conventional non CDA-traffic. By developing assistance systems to direct the attention towards relevant events, air traffic controllers are supported when merging both aircraft streams. This leads to a complexity reduction of the information gathering process. Visual, auditory and tactile assistance systems were implemented in a microworld simulation. 55 participants had to merge CDA and non CDA-traffic, shortly before landing. The participants controlled the non CDA-traffic via radio, while monitoring the CDA traffic at the same time. Whenever a CDA airplane passed a critical waypoint, a visual, auditory, or tactile feedback was given to the participant to maintain a sufficient level of situation awareness. Visual feedback was presented via aircraft label blinking; auditory feedback was given via radio and tactile feedback was given via a vibrotactile feedback device attached to the wrist. The results indeed indicate that additional feedback about the CDA traffic has a positive effect on the visual attention and the situation awareness