Macht im Museum

Die Lesart des Museum als Disziplinarinstitution, gemäß Michel Foucaults Werk Überwachen und Strafen: Die Geburt des Gefängnisses, wurde bereits von verschiedenen TheoretikerInnen formuliert, besonders stark rezipiert wurde die entsprechende Literatur von Tony Bennett und Eileen Hooper-Greenhill. Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit schöpft aus diesen Erkenntnissen und Argumentationen und verengt die Kritik an der Institution auf das Vermittlungsmedium des Audio-Guides. Nach einem kritischen Blick auf die verschiedenen Positionen und die Geschichte(n) der Entstehung des modernen Museums, wird aufbauend auf den bereits genannten „disziplinierenden“ Befunden gegenüber der Institution nun deduktiv auf kleinere Ebenen geschlossen, auf die Ebene des Displays (und der Praxis des Ausstellens an sich), auf die Ebene des Werks und schließlich auf die Ebene der Vermittlung im Museum. Ein Argument, dass sich durch die gesamte Arbeit zieht, ist die Durchlässigkeit der Institution gegenüber gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen und Veränderungen – wie es von einer genuin gesellschaftlichen Institution zu erwarten ist. Dementsprechend wird der Audio-Guide in Hinblick auf gegenwärtige Phänomene befragt: Ist es die Flexibilität des Audio-Guides, die seine Beliebtheit ausmacht? Warum ist die vergleichsweise große Menge an Information dieser Vermittlungsform erwünscht? Der Audio-Guide wird so auf einer zweiten Ebene in Verbindung zu den Begriffen Lifelong Learing (und dessen Schwester Employability) sowie dem Begriff der Flexibilität gesetzt. Um einige Annahmen über den Audio-Guide empirisch abzusichern, wurde im Zeitraum zwischen August und Oktober 2011 eine quantitative Erhebung mittels Fragebögen im Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz durchgeführt. Anhand der Ergebnisse konnte u.a. ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Benutzung des Audio-Guides und dem Konzept des Lifelong Learning hergestellt werden.By stressing Foucaultian critique on the institution of the museum, mainly formulated by Tony Bennett and Eileen Hooper-Greenhill, this thesis examines disciplinary effects of the museum – drawing from Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison – on a smaller scale than originally formulated by named theoreticians. The educational practice of audio-tours (via rentable audio-guide devices) presents itself as a convenient way to consume information in a flexible and individual way. After giving a critical historical overview on the positions of the genesis of the modern museum, this thesis deduces disciplinary effects of the institution of the museum to several sub-levels such as the level of the display and exhibiting itself, the level of the artwork and finally the closest level to the subject in the museum, the level of the chosen pedagogic tool. That said, another persistent argument of the thesis is the permeability of the museum when it comes to social and economic changes outside of its institutional walls. The audio-guide will be tested on advocating and/or representing the economically underpinned behaviour of flexibility and it will be asked whether the discourse of lifelong learning, as well as the connection between this concept and its sibling employability, has already arrived at the museum, perceived as a social institution. The educational practice of the audio-guide will be framed in a twofold way: On one hand the already existing literature on Foucault and the museum as a disciplinary institution is used to root the critique on audio-guides in a certain tradition in museum studies, and on the other hand contemporary social phenomena will be applied to the study of the audio-guide. To elevate the argument to an empirical level, a study was carried out between August and October 2011 at Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz. The study showed, among other findings, a strong relationship between audio-guide usage and the concept of lifelong learning

Modular Abstract Definitional Interpreters for WebAssembly

Even though static analyses can improve performance and secure programs against vulnerabilities, no static whole-program analyses exist for WebAssembly (Wasm) to date. Part of the reason is that Wasm has many complex language concerns, and it is not obvious how to adopt existing analysis frameworks for these features. This paper explores how abstract definitional interpretation can be used to develop sophisticated analyses for Wasm and other complex languages efficiently. In particular, we show that the semantics of Wasm can be decomposed into 19 language-independent components that abstract different aspects of Wasm. We have written a highly configurable definitional interpreter for full Wasm 1.0 in 1628 LOC against these components. Analysis developers can instantiate this interpreter with different value and effect abstractions to obtain abstract definitional interpreters that compute inter-procedural control and data-flow information. This way, we develop the first whole-program dead code, constant propagation, and taint analyses for Wasm, each in less than 210 LOC. We evaluate our analyses on 1458 Wasm binaries collected by others in the wild. Our implementation is based on a novel framework for definitional abstract interpretation in Scala that eliminates scalability issues of prior work

Small group activities within academic communities improve the connectedness of students and faculty.

BackgroundThe University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine implemented a curriculum change that included reduction of lectures, incorporation of problem-based learning and other small group activities. Six academic communities were introduced for teaching longitudinal curricular content and organizing extracurricular activities.MethodsSurveys were collected from 904 first- and second-year medical students over 6 years. Student satisfaction data with their sense of connectedness and community support were collected before and after the implementation of the new curriculum. In a follow-up survey, medical students rated factors that contributed to their sense of connectedness with faculty and students (n = 134).ResultsStudents' perception of connectedness to faculty significantly increased following implementation of a curriculum change that included academic communities. Students ranked small group clinical skills activities within academic communities significantly higher than other activities concerning their sense of connectedness with faculty. Students' perception of connectedness among each other was high at baseline and did not significantly change. Small group activities scored higher than extracurricular activities regarding students' connectedness among themselves.ConclusionsThe implementation of a new curriculum with more small group educational activities including academic communities enhanced connectedness between students and faculty and resulted in an increased sense of community

A summer prematriculation program to help students succeed in medical school.

Medical schools with a diverse student body face the challenge of ensuring that all students succeed academically. Many medical schools have implemented prematriculation programs to prepare students from diverse backgrounds; however, evidence on their impact is largely lacking. In this study, we analyzed participants' demographics as well as the impact of the prematriculation program on Year 1 performance. Predictive validity of the program was assessed and compared to other traditional predictors, including grade point average (GPA) and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and subscores. Linear mixed effect models determined the impact of the prematriculation program, and linear regression analysis assessed the predictive value of the overall score in the prematriculation program and other traditional predictors. Demographics of students participating in the prematriculation program from 2013 to 2015 (n = 75) revealed a significantly higher prevalence of academically disadvantaged students including older students, students with lower GPA and MCAT scores and students of racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in medicine, compared to non-participants (n = 293). Participants performed significantly better in Year 1 courses that were covered in the prematriculation program compared to courses that were not covered. The overall performance in the prematriculation program correlated significantly with Year 1 performance and was found to be a strong predictor for Year 1 performance. This study suggests that a prematriculation program can help students to succeed in the first year of medical school. The results have implications for medical schools seeking to implement or evaluate the effectiveness of their prematriculation program

Linking unfounded beliefs to genetic dopamine availability

Unfounded convictions involving beliefs in the paranormal, grandiosity ideas or suspicious thoughts are endorsed at varying degrees among the general population. Here, we investigated the neurobiopsychological basis of the observed inter-individual variability in the propensity toward unfounded beliefs. One hundred two healthy individuals were genotyped for four polymorphisms in the COMT gene (rs6269, rs4633, rs4818, and rs4680, also known as val158met) that define common functional haplotypes with substantial impact on synaptic dopamine degradation, completed a questionnaire measuring unfounded beliefs, and took part in a behavioral experiment assessing perceptual inference. We found that greater dopamine availability was associated with a stronger propensity toward unfounded beliefs, and that this effect was statistically mediated by an enhanced influence of expectations on perceptual inference. Our results indicate that genetic differences in dopaminergic neurotransmission account for inter-individual differences in perceptual inference linked to the formation and maintenance of unfounded beliefs. Thus, dopamine might be critically involved in the processes underlying one's interpretation of the relationship between the self and the world

Benefits of focus group discussions beyond online surveys in course evaluations by medical students in the United States: a qualitative study

In addition to online questionnaires, many medical schools use supplemental evaluation tools such as focus groups to evaluate their courses. Although some benefits of using focus groups in program evaluation have been described, it is unknown whether these inperson data collection methods provide sufficient additional information beyond online evaluations to justify them. In this study, we analyze recommendations gathered from student evaluation team (SET) focus group meetings and analyzed whether these items were captured in open-ended comments within the online evaluations. Our results indicate that online evaluations captured only 49% of the recommendations identified via SETs. Surveys to course directors identified that 74% of the recommendations exclusively identified via the SETs were implemented within their courses. Our results indicate that SET meetings provided information not easily captured in online evaluations and that these recommendations resulted in actual course changes

Perceptual learning in patients with macular degeneration

Patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or hereditary macular dystrophies (JMD) rely on an efficient use of their peripheral visual field. We trained eight AMD and five JMD patients to perform a texture-discrimination task (TDT) at their preferred retinal locus (PRL) used for fixation. Six training sessions of approximately one hour duration were conducted over a period of approximately 3 weeks. Before, during and after training twelve patients and twelve age-matched controls (the data from two controls had to be discarded later) took part in three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions to assess training-related changes in the BOLD response in early visual cortex. Patients benefited from the training measurements as indexed by significant decrease (p = 0.001) in the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the presentation of the texture target on background and the visual mask, and in a significant location specific effect of the PRL with respect to hit rate (p = 0.014). The following trends were observed: (i) improvement in Vernier acuity for an eccentric line-bisection task; (ii) positive correlation between the development of BOLD signals in early visual cortex and initial fixation stability (r = 0.531); (iii) positive correlation between the increase in task performance and initial fixation stability (r = 0.730). The first two trends were non-significant, whereas the third trend was significant at p = 0.014, Bonferroni corrected. Consequently, our exploratory study suggests that training on the TDT can enhance eccentric vision in patients with central vision loss. This enhancement is accompanied by a modest alteration in the BOLD response in early visual cortex

Use of 3-D modeling in the early development phase of pectin tablets

This study examines the contribution of a 3-D model in an early development of pectin tablets. The aim of this work was to extract as much information of the compression behavior from as few tablets as possible. Pectins with various degrees of methoxylation (DM) were studied (4%-72%). The compressibility was evaluated using classic “in-die” Heckel and Kawakita analyses in addition to the 3-D modeling. For validation purposes well-known reference materials were included. 3-D modeling applied to data of single tablets yielded some information on their compressibility. When several tablets with different maximum relative densities were included, no additional information was obtained through classic evaluation. However, the 3-D model provided additional information through the shape of the 3-D parameter plot. Pectins with a DM >= 25% consolidated predominantly by elastic deformation similarly to the 3-D parameter plot of pregelatinized starch (PGS). The 3-D analysis also suggests some degree of fragmentation and, for some of the low-methoxylated pectins (DM <= 10%), viscoelastic deformation. This study showed that by applying 3-D modeling it is possible to differentiate between elastic and viscoelastic materials for tablets with different relative density values