Estimation of the monetary value of national sports successes: An empirical analysis to determine the willingness to pay of German households for national sports successes

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit ist es, die Präferenzen der deutschen Bürger für sportliche Erfolge deutscher Athleten und Mannschaften bei Olympischen Sommerspielen zu ermitteln. Verwendet wird dazu das theoretische Konzept der maximalen Zahlungsbereitschaft. Je größer der Betrag der geäußerten maximalen Zahlungsbereitschaft ist, desto mehr ist dem Individuum olympischer Sporterfolg wert. Ermittelt wird die maximale Zahlungsbereitschaft unter Anwendung zweier direkter Methoden zur ökonomischen Bewertung von öffentlichen Gütern: der kontingenten Bewertungsmethode und dem Wahlexperiment. Um Aussagen darüber treffen zu können, wie wahrscheinlich es ist, dass die in den Untersuchungen geäußerten, hypothetischen maximalen Zahlungsbeträge in einer realen Situation auch tatsächlich geleistet würden, werden in der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit zusätzlich Faktoren identifiziert, die unterschiedliche Zahlungsbereitschaften erklären. Insgesamt zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die deutschen Bürger eine positive Zahlungsbereitschaft für olympischen Sporterfolg besitzen. Es kann festgestellt werden, dass die befragten deutschen Bürger für eine positive Änderung olympischen Sporterfolges jährlich maximal 5,29 € in Form von Steuern beziehungsweise 5,97 € in Form von Spenden zu zahlen bereit wären. Diejenigen Personen unter den Befragten, die der Zunahme olympischen Sporterfolges durchwegs positiv gegenüberstehen wären sogar bereit einen durchschnittlichen maximalen Zahlungsbetrag von 16,97 € (Steuerbetrag) beziehungsweise 20,03 € (Spendenbetrag) pro Jahr zu leisten. Im Falle der bestmöglichen Ausgestaltung olympischen Sporterfolges in dem Wahlexperiment (Live-Verfolgung der Finalentscheidung, mehr gewonnene Medaillen als zum Referenzjahr 2012 und eine gewonnene Goldmedaille in einer sehr beliebten Sportart) wären sie sogar bereit, 35,52 € pro Jahr zu spenden. Die grundsätzliche Zahlungsbereitschaft wird stark durch wertrationale und affektuelle Motive erklärt. Bei der Höhe der Zahlungsbereitschaft sind es hingegen die zweckrationalen Motive, die diese determinieren

Evaluation of Motion Artifact Metrics for Coronary CT Angiography

Purpose This study quantified the performance of coronary artery motion artifact metrics relative to human observer ratings. Motion artifact metrics have been used as part of motion correction and best‐phase selection algorithms for Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA). However, the lack of ground truth makes it difficult to validate how well the metrics quantify the level of motion artifact. This study investigated five motion artifact metrics, including two novel metrics, using a dynamic phantom, clinical CCTA images, and an observer study that provided ground‐truth motion artifact scores from a series of pairwise comparisons. Method Five motion artifact metrics were calculated for the coronary artery regions on both phantom and clinical CCTA images: positivity, entropy, normalized circularity, Fold Overlap Ratio (FOR), and Low‐Intensity Region Score (LIRS). CT images were acquired of a dynamic cardiac phantom that simulated cardiac motion and contained six iodine‐filled vessels of varying diameter and with regions of soft plaque and calcifications. Scans were repeated with different gantry start angles. Images were reconstructed at five phases of the motion cycle. Clinical images were acquired from 14 CCTA exams with patient heart rates ranging from 52 to 82 bpm. The vessel and shading artifacts were manually segmented by three readers and combined to create ground‐truth artifact regions. Motion artifact levels were also assessed by readers using a pairwise comparison method to establish a ground‐truth reader score. The Kendall\u27s Tau coefficients were calculated to evaluate the statistical agreement in ranking between the motion artifacts metrics and reader scores. Linear regression between the reader scores and the metrics was also performed. Results On phantom images, the Kendall\u27s Tau coefficients of the five motion artifact metrics were 0.50 (normalized circularity), 0.35 (entropy), 0.82 (positivity), 0.77 (FOR), 0.77(LIRS), where higher Kendall\u27s Tau signifies higher agreement. The FOR, LIRS, and transformed positivity (the fourth root of the positivity) were further evaluated in the study of clinical images. The Kendall\u27s Tau coefficients of the selected metrics were 0.59 (FOR), 0.53 (LIRS), and 0.21 (Transformed positivity). In the study of clinical data, a Motion Artifact Score, defined as the product of FOR and LIRS metrics, further improved agreement with reader scores, with a Kendall\u27s Tau coefficient of 0.65. Conclusion The metrics of FOR, LIRS, and the product of the two metrics provided the highest agreement in motion artifact ranking when compared to the readers, and the highest linear correlation to the reader scores. The validated motion artifact metrics may be useful for developing and evaluating methods to reduce motion in Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA) images

The development of womens athletics : findings of an empirical analysis

The present survey measured a wide variety of indicators on different levels, which permit an evaluation of the development of the participation of women in athletics. All in all an upward trend can be noted. One exception is the decreasing proportion of women on the ITO panels. The proportion of female athletes has remained constant over the last few years, however already on a fairly high, if not yet equal, level to that of male athletes. In many fields, on the other hand, despite the outlined development equal representation of women in athletics is still a long way off

Reconstruction of coronary arteries from X-ray angiography: A review.

Despite continuous progress in X-ray angiography systems, X-ray coronary angiography is fundamentally limited by its 2D representation of moving coronary arterial trees, which can negatively impact assessment of coronary artery disease and guidance of percutaneous coronary intervention. To provide clinicians with 3D/3D+time information of coronary arteries, methods computing reconstructions of coronary arteries from X-ray angiography are required. Because of several aspects (e.g. cardiac and respiratory motion, type of X-ray system), reconstruction from X-ray coronary angiography has led to vast amount of research and it still remains as a challenging and dynamic research area. In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art approaches on reconstruction of high-contrast coronary arteries from X-ray angiography. We mainly focus on the theoretical features in model-based (modelling) and tomographic reconstruction of coronary arteries, and discuss the evaluation strategies. We also discuss the potential role of reconstructions in clinical decision making and interventional guidance, and highlight areas for future research

The Development of Women’s Athletics : findings of an Empirical Analysis

The present survey measured a wide variety of indicators on different levels, which permit an evaluation of the development of the participation of women in athletics. All in all an upward trend can be noted. One exception is the decreasing proportion of women on the ITO panels. The proportion of female athletes has remained constant over the last few years, however already on a fairly high, if not yet equal, level to that of male athletes. In many fields, on the other hand, despite the outlined development equal representation of women in athletics is still a long way off

Schuppener, Saskia/Bernhard, Nora/Hauser, Mandy/Poppe, Frederik (Hg.): Inklusion und Chancengleichheit, Diversity im Spiegel von Bildung und Didaktik. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt 2014. [Rezension]

Rezension von: Saskia Schuppener / Nora Bernhard / Mandy Hauser / Frederik Poppe (Hrsg.): Inklusion und Chancengleichheit. Diversity im Spiegel von Bildung und Didaktik. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt 2014, 356 S. ISBN 978-3-7815-1962-

Uwe, Maier, (Hg.): Lehr-Lernprozesse in der Schule: Praktikum, Fachdidaktische Anregungen für die Gestaltung und schriftliche Dokumentation von Unterricht. Bad Heilbrunn / Stuttgart: Klinkhardt / UTB 2014. [...] [Sammelrezension]

Sammelrezension von: 1. Uwe Maier (Hrsg.): Lehr-Lernprozesse in der Schule: Praktikum. Fachdidaktische Anregungen für die Gestaltung und schriftliche Dokumentation von Unterricht. Bad Heilbrunn / Stuttgart: Klinkhardt / UTB 2014, 251 S. ISBN 978-3-8252-4090-5. 2. Uwe Maier (Hrsg.): Lehr-Lernprozesse in der Schule: Referendariat. Praxiswissen für den Vorbereitungsdienst. Bad Heilbrunn / Stuttgart: Klinkhardt / UTB 2014, 236 S. ISBN 978-3-8252-3876-