SETTING TARGETS RIGHT! HOW NON-RATIONAL BIASES AFFECT THE RISK PREFERENCE OF IT-OUTSOURCING DECISION MAKERS - AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

During the past 20 years, a rich but diverse body of knowledge has accumulated regarding information technology outsourcing (ITO). Researchers have studied several factors that explain ITO decisions. So far, previous studies resorted mainly to rational efficiency criteria. In recent years researchers started to integrate soft factors into the explanatory models. In many cases, the failure of ITO projects still cannot be fully explained. By expanding ITO research in the direction of behavioral economics, this paper integrates psychological concepts that demonstrate that IT decision makers suffer from non-rational biases. Representing a broad variety of biases, this empirical study focuses on cognitive dissonance and reference point dependency. Using a structural equation model, based on an online survey with 198 participants, we show that IT decision makers use targets of past decisions as reference points. The assessment of target achievement in a subsequent decision can evoke cognitive dissonance that non-rationally affects the risk preferences of the decision maker. Two fictional scenarios demonstrate the practical implications of our study. Setting targets too high can cause non-rational risk affinity, potentially leading to project failure. Conversely, setting targets too low may cause non-rational risk aversion restraining the decision maker to make use of the full performance of a project

Pricing of Content Services – An Empirical Investigation of Music as a Service

In the last years new concepts of digital music distribution have been developed. One of them is Music as a Service, which provides music streaming over the internet as a service - without transferring ownership for the content. This differentiates Music as a Service from Download to Own, which is used by music download platforms predominantly and is the most widely studied concept in academic research. The aim of this paper is to receive first research implications about customers’ attitudes towards MaaS. Based on an empirical survey of 132 Music as a Service users, this research explores the effects of product configurations on consumers’ utility and their willingness to pay (WTP) for premium offers. We can show that next to price, contract duration and music quality as the most important product attributes, there is a high WTP for overcoming insufficient mobile internet coverage

Dauernachtarbeit: Eine Sichtung des vorhandenen Wissenstandes mit Thesen, Empfehlungen & Forschungsfragen

Im Falle der Dauernachtarbeit, also einer dauerhaften Schichtarbeit bei Nacht, ste-hen begründete Befürchtungen erheblicher Nachteile anderen Sichtweisen gegen-über. Dieser Artikel beruht auf einer umfassenden Literatursuche und einer breiten Diskussion in der Arbeitszeitgesellschaft. Es werden von Expertinnen und Experten konsensual abgestimmte Thesen zu der Wirkung von Dauernachtarbeit sowie zum Forschungsbedarf vorgestellt. Das Kernergebnis der Diskussion ist, dass Dauer-nachtarbeit in den meisten Fällen problematisch ist, aber auch Konstellationen exis-tieren, bei denen die Dauernachtarbeit wenig problematisch oder vielleicht sogar po-sitiv für manche Personen wirkt. Es besteht ein erheblicher Forschungsbedarf, um hier ein klares Bild zu gewinnen

Feasibility, Adherence, and Effectiveness of Blended Psychotherapy for Severe Mental Illnesses: Scoping Review

Background Blended psychotherapy (bPT) combines face-to-face psychotherapy with digital interventions to enhance the effectiveness of mental health treatment. The feasibility and effectiveness of bPT have been demonstrated for various mental health issues, although primarily for patients with higher levels of functioning. Objective This scoping review aims to investigate the feasibility, adherence, and effectiveness of bPT for the treatment of patients with severe mental illnesses (SMIs). Methods Following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines, we conducted searches in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and PsycArticles for studies published until March 23, 2023. Results Out of 587 screened papers, we incorporated 25 studies encompassing 23 bPT interventions, involving a total of 2554 patients with SMI. The intervention formats and research designs exhibited significant variation. Our findings offer preliminary evidence supporting the feasibility of bPT for SMI, although there is limited research on adherence. Nevertheless, the summarized studies indicated promising attrition rates, spanning from 0% to 37%, implying a potential beneficial impact of bPT on adherence to SMI treatment. The quantity of evidence on the effects of bPT for SMI was limited and challenging to generalize. Among the 15 controlled trials, 4 concluded that bPT interventions were effective compared with controls. However, it is noteworthy that 2 of these studies used the same study population, and the control groups exhibited significant variations. Conclusions Overall, our review suggests that while bPT appears promising as a treatment method, further research is necessary to establish its effectiveness for SMI. We discuss considerations for clinical implementation, directions, and future research

Predicting non-response to multimodal day clinic treatment in severely impaired depressed patients: a machine learning approach

A considerable number of depressed patients do not respond to treatment. Accurate prediction of non-response to routine clinical care may help in treatment planning and improve results. A longitudinal sample of N = 239 depressed patients was assessed at admission to multi-modal day clinic treatment, after six weeks, and at discharge. First, patient’s treatment response was modelled by identifying longitudinal trajectories using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17). Then, individual items of the HDRS-17 at admission as well as individual patient characteristics were entered as predictors of response/non-response trajectories into the binary classification model (eXtremeGradient Boosting; XGBoost). The model was evaluated on a hold-out set and explained in human-interpretable form by SHapley Additive explanation (SHAP) values. The prediction model yielded a multi-class AUC = 0.80 in the hold-out set. The predictive power for the binary classification yielded an AUC = 0.83 (sensitivity = .80, specificity = .77). Most relevant predictors for non-response were insomnia symptoms, younger age, anxiety symptoms, depressed mood, being unemployed, suicidal ideation and somatic symptoms of depressive disorder. Non-responders to routine treatment for depression can be identified and screened for potential next-generation treatments. Such predictors may help personalize treatment and improve treatment response

Arbeitszeitentwicklungen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz

Editorial des Schwerpunktheftes "Arbeitszeitentwicklungen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schwei

Diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection is associated with reduced HIV viral load and lower risk for opportunistic infections in people living with HIV.

Approximately 28% of the human population have been exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), with the overwhelming majority of infected individuals not developing disease (latent TB infection (LTBI)). While it is known that uncontrolled HIV infection is a major risk factor for the development of TB, the effect of underlying LTBI on HIV disease progression is less well characterized, in part because longitudinal data are lacking. We sorted all participants of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) with at least 1 documented MTB test into one of the 3 groups: MTB uninfected, LTBI, or active TB. To detect differences in the HIV set point viral load (SPVL), linear regression was used; the frequency of the most common opportunistic infections (OIs) in the SHCS between MTB uninfected patients, patients with LTBI, and patients with active TB were compared using logistic regression and time-to-event analyses. In adjusted models, we corrected for baseline demographic characteristics, i.e., HIV transmission risk group and gender, geographic region, year of HIV diagnosis, and CD4 nadir. A total of 13,943 SHCS patients had at least 1 MTB test documented, of whom 840 (6.0%) had LTBI and 770 (5.5%) developed active TB. Compared to MTB uninfected patients, LTBI was associated with a 0.24 decreased log HIV SPVL in the adjusted model (p < 0.0001). Patients with LTBI had lower odds of having candida stomatitis (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.68, p = 0.0035) and oral hairy leukoplakia (adjusted OR = 0.67, p = 0.033) when compared to MTB uninfected patients. The association of LTBI with a reduced HIV set point virus load and fewer unrelated infections in HIV/TB coinfected patients suggests a more complex interaction between LTBI and HIV than previously assumed

Belagerte Moderne: Krieg und Kommune in der französischen Druckgraphik 1870/71 ; Begleitheft zur Ausstellung

Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg und die gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen um die Pariser Kommune stellen einen denkbar scharfen Kontrast zum kulturellen Leben der modernen Metropole Paris in den Jahren vor 1870 dar. Die 1860er Jahre waren auch in den bildenden Künsten von einem produktiven Aufbruch gekennzeichnet: Édouard Manet hatte mit ersten Skandalen in Ausstellungen auf sich aufmerksam gemacht; Maler wie Claude Monet und Camille Pissarro begannen damit, den Impressionismus herauszubilden; und eine Reihe von ambitionierten Druckgraphikern hatte die Radierung als anspruchsvolles und durchaus modernes Bildmedium wiederbelebt. Während Krieg und Kommune in der offiziellen Kunst und im Impressionismus vergleichsweise wenige Spuren hinterlassen haben, lassen sich die einschneidenden Ereignisse der Jahre 1870 und 1871 in der Druckgraphik gut nachvollziehen. Radierungen von Adolphe Martial Potémont, Maxime Lalanne oder François Pierdon führen vor Augen, wie die Künstler mit ihren zuvor entwickelten künstlerischen Mitteln auf die radikal veränderte Situation zu reagieren versuchten. Ausstellung und Begleitheft stellen ausgewählte Druckgraphiken von französischen Künstlern ins Zentrum, um einen etwas anderen Blick auf den Deutsch-Französischen Krieg und die Kommune zu richten

Auf elektronischem Wege nach Bologna

Der Bologna-Prozess ist in seinen strukturellen Auswirkungen eng verbunden mit der Nutzung digitaler Technologien. Die damit verbundenen Fragen werden unter dem Stichwort E-Bologna diskutiert. Zwei Themen stehen dabei im Vordergrund: Wie müssen die vorhandenen Systeme an Hochschulen aus einer organisatorischen und administrativen Perspektive integriert und erweitert werden und welche Möglichkeiten bieten digitale Technologien in der Lehre, die Förderung von Mobilität, lebenslangem Lernen und Aufbau von Schlüsselkompetenzen zu unterstützen? Der Beitrag zeigt praxisnahe Beispiele, wie an den Instituten der Humboldt-Universität flexibel mit den neuen Herausforderungen umgegangen wird. Die präsentierten Lösungen sind eng an konkreten Herausforderungen entwickelt worden und haben nicht den Anspruch eine umfassende Lösung zu erarbeiten. Sie sind vielmehr strikt pragmatisch angelegt und damit alltagstauglich im fachlichen Kontext. Der Beitrag will Anregungen und Beispiele geben, wie die mit Bologna verbundenen Herausforderungen mit Hilfe digitaler Technologien gemeistert werden

Bacterial Toxins and the Nervous System: Neurotoxins and Multipotential Toxins Interacting with Neuronal Cells

Toxins are potent molecules used by various bacteria to interact with a host organism. Some of them specifically act on neuronal cells (clostridial neurotoxins) leading to characteristics neurological affections. But many other toxins are multifunctional and recognize a wider range of cell types including neuronal cells. Various enterotoxins interact with the enteric nervous system, for example by stimulating afferent neurons or inducing neurotransmitter release from enterochromaffin cells which result either in vomiting, in amplification of the diarrhea, or in intestinal inflammation process. Other toxins can pass the blood brain barrier and directly act on specific neurons