Examining Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence is an often overlooked and misunderstood issue in contemporary society. Contrary to what some may believe, intimate partner violence is more than just abuse that results in a physical injury. There are several other subcategories under the umbrella term ‘violence,’ such as physical non-injury, emotional harm, financial harm, verbal abuse, and sexual violence. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Additionally, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, about half of all men and women (48.8% and 48.4%, respectively) have experienced some form of psychological aggression by an intimate partner. As this is such a prevalent issue, I conducted an in-depth literature review to examine the different aspects of intimate partner violence. Using the ecological perspective as a framework for the piece, I examined the definition of intimate partner violence, common risk factors, barriers to leaving, and experiences of intimate partner violence by different cultural groups. This literature review will serve as the basis for my dissertation when I enter graduate school

Successfully releasing jackdaws, Corvus monedula: spatial dispersion and the fusion of social groups

In der vorliegenden Studie untersuchten wir eine Auswilderung von in einer Voliere gehaltenen Dohlen (Corvus monedula), die in einer erfolgreichen Etablierung einer Wildkolonie mündete. Die Auswilderung erfolgte in zwei Stufen in den Jahren 2007 und 2009. Im ersten Projektjahr lag der Fokus unserer Untersuchung auf der räumlichen Ausbreitung der ausgewilderten Individuen, die zunächst nur allmählich, dann jedoch fast sprunghaft erfolgte. Mit der räumlichen Ausbreitung der Individuen auf andere als die in unmittelbarer Nähe zur Voliere gelegenen Bereiche war auch eine veränderte funktionelle Nutzung des Raumes verbunden, in der vor allem das Zentrum der Aktivitäten der Vögel verlagert wurde. Das zweite Projektjahr war der Untersuchung gewidmet, wie sich eine neuerlich ausgewilderte Dohlengruppe mit der bereits bestehenden Wildkolonie zu einer sozialen Gruppe zusammenschließen würde. In diesem Prozess benutzten die beiden Kolonien unterschiedliche Strategien der Annäherung. Während Individuen der Wildkolonie mit den hinzugekommenen Individuen häufiger in aggressiver Weise Kontakt aufnahmen, zeigten umgekehrt die neu ausgewilderten Individuen gegenüber Individuen der Wildkolonie vor allem soziopositives Verhalten. Obwohl die beiden Kolonien nach nur rund zwei Wochen räumlich als eine Kolonie betrachtet werden durften, zeigen unsere Ergebnisse, dass der soziale Zusammenschluss erst nach etwa zwei Monaten erreicht war. Unsere Studie zeigt auch Kontextfaktoren bzw. Faktoren der Biologie von Dohlen auf, die für eine erfolgreiche Auswilderung von besonderer Bedeutung sind: das visuelle Kennenlernen der neuen Umgebung, die Dynamik von Dohlenkolonien als offene Gruppen, in denen Abwanderungen und Neuzugänge ein häufiges Phänomen sind und für Auswilderungszwecke genutzt werden können und die Wichtigkeit einer etablierten Dominanzhierarchie in der dominante Individuen Führungsrollen übernehmen und Artgenossen diesen folgen können.The focus of the present study was a release project on jackdaws (Corvus monedula) which was carried out in two steps in 2007 and 2009. In 2007 we focused on the spatial dispersion of individuals which started gradually but then turned into a stepwise increase. A change in the functional use of space was associated with the birds’ spatial dispersion into areas other than those immediately surrounding the aviary in which especially the centre of the birds’ activities was relocated. 2009 focused on the analysis of the process how a newly released group of jackdaws and the already existing wild colony of birds would unite into a single social group. In this process both colonies used different strategies: in contrast to the individuals of the wild colony that mainly approached the newly released individuals in an aggressive manner, the latter initiated more sociopositive interactions towards the former. Although after two weeks the two colonies could be considered as one when referring to their spatial cohesiveness, our results show that their social cohesiveness was achieved only after about two months. Furthermore, our study indicates which factors of the context and the biology of jackdaws, respectively, may be especially important for a successful release in these birds: visual acquaintance with the new environment, social dynamics of jackdaw colonies that represent free entry groups in which emigration and immigration are frequent phenomena and can be used for releasing purposes, and the importance of an established dominance hierarchy due to which dominant individuals can take the lead while subdominant conspecifics may follow them

Thermoelectric cookstove

A fuel efficient cookstove tailored to the needs of Nicaraguan small business owners that incorporated insulation and thermoelectric power generation was built and validated. There is a 4 inch layer of pumice rock insulation around the combustion chamber, which significantly reduces convective heat losses to the environment. The stove\u27s ventilation system is powered by the electricity generated by thermoelectric generators. Preheated air is forced into the combustion chamber, which increases the combustion efficiency, reducing the fuel consumption and the harmful smoke produced. Through various testing methods, we found that the controlled airflow to the charcoal fuel allows the stove to maintain the desired cooking temperature 38% longer that the standard inefficient stoves. This longer burn time translates directly into fuel savings, as the operator requires less fuel to accomplish the same cooking task. It is estimated that a customer could save at least $200/year on fuel, which represents two month\u27s salary in Nicaragua. Compared to uninsulated stoves, our design reduces the outer wall temperature by 700° F, which is a significant safety improvement. The voltage generated by the TEGs, typically between 1.5-2.5 volts, is enough to power the fans; however, more work needs to be done to optimize a power management circuit that would facilitate device charging

Social acknowledgement as a predictor of post-traumatic stress and complicated grief after witnessing assisted suicide

Background: In Switzerland, right-to-die organizations such as Exit Deutsche Schweiz offer suicide assistance to their members. However, there is limited knowledge of the impact that witnessing assisted suicide has on the post- traumatic stress severity or the grief process of family members. Low perceived social acknowledgement may affect mental health. Methods: A cross- sectional survey of 85 family members who were present at an assisted suicide was conducted in December 2007. The Inventory of Complicated Grief and the Impact of Event Scale were used to assess symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complicated grief (CG) at 14 to 24 months post-loss. Further, the Social Acknowledgement Questionnaire was used to examine the impact that the social environment’s acknowledgement of the end-of-life decision had on respondents’ mental health. Results: As expected, social acknowledgement as a survivor was related to PTSD symptoms and CG. In particular, perceived general disapproval was strongly correlated with all outcome measures, whereas recognition was not significantly related to PTSD or CG (intrusion and avoidance). Conclusion: Family members of patients who use assisted suicide may hesitate to disclose the manner of death, and the community and societal environment may express strong views concerning the end-of-life decision. This can lead to increased levels of PTSD and CG

k-MED - from a local project to a service provider for eLearning

k-MED entwickelte sich von einem fachbezogenen Projekt im Jahr 1999 zu einem e-Learning-Dienstleister mit umfangreichen Lehr-Lernangeboten sowie einer technischen und organisatorischen Infrastruktur für Autoren und Nutzer. Es bietet heute – Mitte 2006 – 5000 Studierenden, v.a. der Humanmedizin, ca. 170 Lernkurse aus 16 medizinischen Fächern. Das Projekt umfasst erfahrenes Fachpersonal und nutzt eine eigene Online-Autorenumgebung sowie eine internetbasierte Lernplattform, deren Funktionalitäten in Abstimmung mit evaluierten Lehr- und Lern-Szenarien ständig weiter entwickelt werden. Die wichtigste Aufgabe ist die Vollversorgung von Bildungseinrichtungen, darunter vor allem medizinische Fakultäten, mit Lehr-Lern- und Kommunikationsinstrumenten. Aktuelle Informationen sind zu finden unter http://www.k-med.org.k-MED evolved from a single medical subject project in 1999 to a provider of comprehensive technology, infrastructure and content for authors and learners. It currently offers about 170 courses covering 16 medical subjects. The k-MED community consists of medical authors and experts for technology, graphical and instructional design. It has its proprietary authoring tools and an internet based learning management system, both being continually improved corresponding to service experiences. k-MED aims at ongoing development as a service provider for educational institutions for undergraduate or continuing medical education. For further information see http://www.k-med.org

Skin and bones: the bacterial cytoskeleton, cell wall, and cell morphogenesis

The bacterial world is full of varying cell shapes and sizes, and individual species perpetuate a defined morphology generation after generation. We review recent findings and ideas about how bacteria use the cytoskeleton and other strategies to regulate cell growth in time and space to produce different shapes and sizes

The (Lacking) User Adoption of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps – Insights from Switzerland and Germany

COVID-19 contact tracing apps are one of the best tools we currently have available to avoid a potential second wave of COVID-19. However, sufficient critical mass in terms of uptake is required for these apps to be effective. Given the low adoption rate, a better understanding of the users\u27 perspective is important to define measures to drive their adoption. Building on the privacy calculus, this study analyses the adoption of COVID-19 apps as a benefit-risk trade-off and provides empirical insights for Germany and Switzerland, which have been among the more successful adopters. Interestingly, we find many commonalities between both countries, which may be explained by their geographic and cultural proximity, but also with the similarities in app design and launch. However, we observe significant differences in benefit and risk perception between different groups of the population, which we classify as advocates, critics, and undecided. The findings reveal that all groups recognize the benefits of COVID-19 apps and confirm that reservations about privacy are the biggest hurdle to uptake. For the undecided and critics, our empirical data also confirms the privacy paradox, i.e. the differences between general attitudes and concrete behaviour

Theoretical results on bet-and-run as an initialisation strategy

Bet-and-run initialisation strategies have been experimentally shown to be beneficial on classical NP-complete problems such as the travelling salesperson problem and minimum vertex cover. We analyse the performance of a bet-and-run restart strategy, where k independent islands run in parallel for t1 iterations, after which the optimisation process continues on only the best-performing island. We define a family of pseudo-Boolean functions, consisting of a plateau and a slope, as an abstraction of real fitness landscapes with promising and deceptive regions. The plateau shows a high fitness, but does not allow for further progression, whereas the slope has a low fitness initially, but does lead to the global optimum. We show that bet-and-run strategies with non-trivial k and t1 are necessary to find the global optimum efficiently. We show that the choice of t1 is linked to properties of the function. Finally, we provide a fixed budget analysis to guide selection of the bet-and-run parameters to maximise expected fitness after t = k · t1 + t2 fitness evaluations