No matter how real: Out-group faces convey less humanness

Past research on real human faces has shown that out-group members are commonly perceived as lacking human qualities, which links them to machines or objects. In this study, we aimed to test whether similar out-group effects generalize to artificial faces. Caucasian participants were presented with images of male Caucasian and Indian faces and had to decide whether human traits (naturally and uniquely human) as well as emotions (primary and secondary) could or could not be attributed to them. In line with previous research, we found that naturally human traits and secondary emotions were attributed less often to the out-group (Indian) than to the in-group (Caucasian), and this applied to both real and artificial faces. The findings extend prior research and show that artificial stimuli readily evoke intergroup processes. This has implications for the design of animated characters, suggesting that outgroup faces convey less humanness regardless of how life-like their representation is

Decision Making in the 4th Dimension—Exploring Use Cases and Technical Options for the Integration of 4D BIM and GIS during Construction

In both the Geospatial (Geo) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) domains, it is widely acknowledged that the integration of geo-data and BIM-data is beneficial and a crucial step towards solving the multi-disciplinary challenges of our built environment. The result of this integration—broadly termed GeoBIM—has the potential to be particularly beneficial in the context of the construction of large infrastructure projects, which could make use of data relating to the larger spatial extents typically handled in geographical information systems (GIS) as well as the detailed models generated by BIM. To date, GeoBIM integration has mainly been explored for buildings, in a 3D context and for small projects. This paper demonstrates the results of the next level of integration, exploring the addition of the fourth dimension by linking project schedule information to create 4D GeoBIM, examining interoperability challenges and benefits in the context of a number of use cases relating to the enabling works for a major commercial infrastructure project. The integrating power of location and time—knowing where and when data relate to—allows us to explore data interoperability challenges relating to linking real world construction data, created using commercial software, with other data sources; we are then able to demonstrate the benefits of 4D GeoBIM in the context of three decision making scenarios: examining the potential for prioritisation of noise mitigation interventions by identifying apartments closest to the noisiest construction process; development of a 4D location-enabled risk register allowing, for example, work to continue underground if a risk is specific to the top of a building; ensuring construction safety by using 3D buffering to ensure that the required distances between moving construction equipment and surrounding infrastructure are not breached. Additionally, once integrated, we are able to ‘democratize’ the data—make it accessible beyond the BIM and GIS expert group—by embedding it into a 3D/4D open source Web GIS tool

Banishing the biopirates : a new approach to protecting traditional knowledge

The livelihoods of indigenous peoples and the conservation of biodiversity worldwide depend on conserving and protecting traditional knowledge of the use and functioning of biological and natural resources. This traditional knowledge (TK) has helped develop the millions of farmers’ food crop varieties in use today, as well as a wealth of traditional medicines and techniques for sustainable agriculture and resource use. Yet this knowledge is rapidly disappearing. It is under increasing threat from both intellectual property regimes and economic globalisation processes which undermine traditional rural livelihoods. This loss is occurring despite the fact that the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requires member countries to respect, preserve and maintain traditional knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their use. International and national policies have so far proved inadequate to protect traditional knowledge. The dominant paradigms of access and benefit-sharing and intellectual property rights fail to adequately protect TK because they reflect western norms and laws, and focus narrowly on protecting intellectual rights. This paper describes how indigenous and farmers’ organisations are calling for more holistic approaches to protecting their rights to TK, bio-genetic resources, territories, culture and customary laws. These components of indigenous knowledge systems and heritage cannot be separated. A new framework for protecting TK, known as collective bio-cultural heritage, addresses biodiversity and culture together, rather than separating them; recognises collective as opposed to individual rights; and places them in the framework of ‘heritage’ as opposed to ‘property’. This approach means: Acknowledging that a state’s sovereign right over natural resources (as recognised by the CBD) is conditioned by indigenous and local communities’ customary rights over their traditional resources and territories. These rights must also be recognised. Strengthening community natural resource management, customary laws and institutions, and collective land tenure as the basis for local control over traditional knowledge and resources. For example, the establishment of Indigenous managed Bio-cultural Heritage Areas can enhance rights over TK, traditional livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. Facilitating access by communities, not just scientists and companies, to genetic resources held ex situ. With genetic erosion caused by modern agriculture, development etc, many communities need access to this material if they are to restore diversity to cope with phenomena such as climate change

Studien zur literaturwissenschaftlichen Imagologie

The dissertation originally aimed to critically examine all of Dostoevsky's works, including journalism, in which Poland, i. Polish figures and historical persons or the Polish history and culture occur. However, because of the excessive scope of this text corpus, the proposed project had to be limited to the interpretation of Dostoevsky's literary works. As a desideratum of research remains the investigation of the relations between the literary and journalistic works Dostoevskijs persist. At the same time, however, the investigation had to be extended to a terminological-methodological examination of "foreignness" or "alterity research", because the previous inconsistent methods and diffuse terminologies did not permit a sufficiently differentiating analysis.Die Dissertation hatte sich ursprünglich zum Ziel gesetzt, alle Werke Dostoevskijs, einschließlich der Publizistik, kritisch zu untersuchen, in denen Polen, d.h. polnische Figuren und historische Personen oder die polnische Geschichte und Kultur vorkommen. Das geplante Vorhaben mußte jedoch wegen des allzu großen Umfangs dieses Textkorpus auf die lnterpretation literarischer Werke Dostoevskijs beschränkt werden. Als Desiderat der Forschung bleibt damit weiterhin die Untersuchung der Bezüge zwischen den literarischen und publizistischen Werken Dostoevskijs bestehen. Zugleich mußte jedoch die Untersuchung auf eine terminologisch-methodische Auseinandersetzung mit der "Fremdheits-" bzw. "Alteritätsforschung" ausgeweitet werden, denn die bisherigen uneinheitlichen Methoden und diffusen Terminologien erlaubten keine genügend differenzierende Analyse

Real or Artificial? Intergroup Biases in Mind Perception in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Recent research suggests that attributions of aliveness and mental capacities to faces are influenced by social group membership. In this article, we investigated group related biases in mind perception in participants from a Western and Eastern culture, employing faces of varying ethnic groups. In Experiment 1, Caucasian faces that ranged on a continuum from real to artificial were evaluated by participants in the UK (in-group) and in India (out-group) on animacy, abilities to plan and to feel pain, and having a mind. Human features were found to be assigned to a greater extent to faces when these belonged to in-group members, whereas out-group faces had to appear more realistic in order to be perceived as human. When participants in India evaluated South Asian (in-group) and Caucasian (out-group) faces in Experiment 2, the results closely mirrored those of the first experiment. For both studies, ratings of out-group faces were significantly predicted by participants’ levels of ethnocultural empathy. The findings highlight the role of intergroup processes (i.e., in-group favoritism, out-group dehumanization) in the perception of human and mental qualities and point to ethnocultural empathy as an important factor in responses to out-groups

Studien zur literaturwissenschaftlichen Imagologie

The dissertation originally aimed to critically examine all of Dostoevsky's works, including journalism, in which Poland, i. Polish figures and historical persons or the Polish history and culture occur. However, because of the excessive scope of this text corpus, the proposed project had to be limited to the interpretation of Dostoevsky's literary works. As a desideratum of research remains the investigation of the relations between the literary and journalistic works Dostoevskijs persist. At the same time, however, the investigation had to be extended to a terminological-methodological examination of "foreignness" or "alterity research", because the previous inconsistent methods and diffuse terminologies did not permit a sufficiently differentiating analysis