COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions: The Theory of Planned Behavior, Optimistic Bias, and Anticipated Regret

High vaccination rates within the general population are essential for overcoming the current COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the present study was to investigate intentions to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as well as the predictors of such intentions. A representative sample of the Norwegian population (N = 1,003, 49.5% females, Mage = 47.9, SD = 17.1) filled in an online questionnaire assessing the components of the Theory of planned behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control), as well as optimistic bias and anticipated regret. Results showed that a majority (61.6%) of participants intend to get vaccinated. Regression analysis revealed that intentions were predicted by positive attitudes toward vaccination (β = 0.31, p < 0.001), subjective norms in favor of vaccination in one’s family (β = 0.23, p < 0.001), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.09, p < 0.001), and by anticipated net regret (β = 0.32, p < 0.001), explaining 69% (f2 = 2.23) of the variance in intentions. Optimistic bias did not predict intentions.publishedVersio

A terrible future: Episodic future thinking and the perceived risk of terrorism

Terrorism is a salient risk source in 21st century life and may deter tourists from visiting certain destinations. How people perceive the risk of a future terror attack abroad, and thus their traveling decisions, may be influenced by whether they think about the future in specific and personal terms (episodic future thinking) or in more general, abstract terms (semantic future thinking). In a pre-registered experiment (N = 277) we explored the potential impact of episodic future thinking on the perceived risk of terror attacks abroad. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) An episodic future thinking-condition, where participants were asked to imagine a specific, terror-related personal episode that might occur in the future while traveling abroad; (2) a semantic future thinking-condition, where participants were asked to think more abstractly about terror events that might occur in the future; (3) an episodic counterfactual thinkingcondition, where participants were asked to imagine a specific, terror-related personal episode that might have occurred in the past while traveling abroad and (4) a passive control condition. Participants indicated their perceived risk of six different future terror attacks occurring abroad. The manipulation checks suggest that the experimental manipulations functioned as intended. Contrary to the central hypothesis of the study, there were no differences in the perceived risk of terror attacks between the conditions. These results run counter to previous research and do not support the idea that how people think about the future influences their perceived risk of future dramatic events. Potential limitations and implications are discussed.publishedVersio

Untersuchungen zur ligandenvermittelten Regulation der Melanocortin-Rezeptor-Aktivität

Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt die Ergebniss von Untersuchungen zur ligandenvermittelten Regulation der Melanocortin-Rezeptor-Aktivität dar. Melanocortin-Rezeptoren (MCR) spielen eine entscheidende Rolle in der Regulation des Energiehaushalts. Für den Melanocortin-4-rezeptor (MC4R) ist bekannt, dass er durch den agonisten alpha-MSH beta-arrestin-abhängig endozytiert. Gleiches konnte in dieser Arbeit auch für den Melanocortin-3-Rezeptor (MC3R) gezeigt werden. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist, dass auch der inversen Agonisten AgRP die Fähigkeit besitzt, den MC3R sowie den MC4R beta-Arrestin-abhängig zu endozytieren. Für die Mutante des MC4R, die MC4R-D90N, die ihre Fähigkeit an Galphas zu koppeln verloren hat, konnte zwar eine agonisten-abhängige beta-Arrestin Rekrutierung jedoch keine Endozytose gezeigt werden

Worry and its correlates onboard cruise ships

The present study examined job-specific worry, as well as possible predictors of such worry, namelyjob-specific self-efficacy and supervisor dispositionism. 133 non-supervising crew members at differentdepartments onboard upmarket cruise ships filled in a questionnaire during one of their journeys. Findings show that employees report moderate amounts of job-specific worry and the galley crew reports significantlygreater amounts of worry than the other departments. Results also indicate that cruise ship crews worrysomewhat more than workers in the land based service sector. Furthermore it was found that supervisordispositionism, i.e. supervisors with fixed mindsets, was related to greater amounts of worry among thecrew. Surprisingly, job-specific self-efficacy was unrelated to job-specific worry

Worry and its correlates onboard cruise ships

The present study examined job-specific worry, as well as possible predictors of such worry, namelyjob-specific self-efficacy and supervisor dispositionism. 133 non-supervising crew members at differentdepartments onboard upmarket cruise ships filled in a questionnaire during one of their journeys. Findings show that employees report moderate amounts of job-specific worry and the galley crew reports significantlygreater amounts of worry than the other departments. Results also indicate that cruise ship crews worrysomewhat more than workers in the land based service sector. Furthermore it was found that supervisordispositionism, i.e. supervisors with fixed mindsets, was related to greater amounts of worry among thecrew. Surprisingly, job-specific self-efficacy was unrelated to job-specific worry.publishedVersio

Crystal growth and thermodynamic investigation of Bi2M2+O4 (M = Pd, Cu)

Phase equilibria that are relevant for the growth of Bi2MO4 have been studied experimentally, and the ternary phase diagrams of Bi2O3–PdO2–Pd and Bi2O3–Cu2O–CuO and its isopleth section Bi2O3–CuO were redetermined. It is shown that every melting and crystallization process is always accompanied by a redox process at the phase boundary and that for both title compounds, the valence of the transition metal is lowered during melting. Vice versa, during crystal growth, O2 must be transported through the melt to the phase boundary. Based on these new insights provided by our thermodynamic studies, Bi2CuO4 single crystals with a length of up to 7 cm and a diameter of 6 mm were grown by the OFZ technique to be used for investigations of magnetic, electronic and thermal transport properties. The grown crystals were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Laue, magnetization and specific heat measurements

Complexity and Simplification in Understanding Travel Preferences Among Tourists

Travel preferences are complex phenomena, and thus cumbersome to deal with in full width in diagnostic and strategic planning processes. The aim of the present investigation was to explore to what extent individual preferences can be simplified into structures, and if tourists can be grouped into preference clusters that are viable and practically applicable for tourism planning. Building on prior studies that have validated survey instruments designed to measure different tourist role orientations, we used a factor analytical approach to develop a simplified structure of individual preferences, and a standard clustering technique for grouping tourists into preference clusters. Further analyses indicated that preference clusters based on reduced factor preference-data are to some extent related to context-specific valuations, perceptions, and revisit intentions; however, the magnitude of differences between groups was rather small. Overall findings provide reason to suggest that the identified preference clusters are insufficient when it comes to explaining variability in which aspects tourists emphasize as part of their vacation. Possible managerial implications and methodological limitations of the present investigation are noted.publishedVersio

Partizipative Stadtteilentwicklung Winterthur-Töss : Evaluationsbericht zur Startphase

Der vorliegende Evaluationsbericht behandelt die Startphase des "Projekts Töss" im Winterthurer Stadtteil Töss (2005-2007). Das Hauptziel des Projekts Töss ist die Verbesserung der Lebensqualität in Töss, einem Stadtteil im demografischen und infrastrukturellen Umbruch. In Zusammenarbeit mit einem Team aus Fachleuten verschiedener Hochschulen wurde ein partizipativer Stadtteil-Entwicklungs-Prozess entwickelt und durchgeführt. Es resultierten 28 Projekte und -ideen, die vom Stadtrat grösstenteils umgesetzt werden. Zudem institutionalisierte sich die Bewegung in einem Dachverband der organisierten Bevölkerung von Töss sowie in einer interdepartementalen Projektleitung der Verwaltung

Identifying predictive features of autism spectrum disorders in a clinical sample of adolescents and adults using machine learning

Diagnosing autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a complicated, time-consuming process which is particularly challenging in older individuals. One of the most widely used behavioral diagnostic tools is the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Previous work using machine learning techniques suggested that ASD detection in children can be achieved with substantially fewer items than the original ADOS. Here, we expand on this work with a specific focus on adolescents and adults as assessed with the ADOS Module 4. We used a machine learning algorithm (support vector machine) to examine whether ASD detection can be improved by identifying a subset of behavioral features from the ADOS Module 4 in a routine clinical sample of N = 673 high-functioning adolescents and adults with ASD (n = 385) and individuals with suspected ASD but other best-estimate or no psychiatric diagnoses (n = 288). We identified reduced subsets of 5 behavioral features for the whole sample as well as age subgroups (adolescents vs. adults) that showed good specificity and sensitivity and reached performance close to that of the existing ADOS algorithm and the full ADOS, with no significant differences in overall performance. These results may help to improve the complicated diagnostic process of ASD by encouraging future efforts to develop novel diagnostic instruments for ASD detection based on the identified constructs as well as aiding clinicians in the difficult question of differential diagnosis