Drang oder Zwang?

Aversiver Rassismus definiert sich aus zwei Komponenten. Einerseits aus dem Bekenntnis zu egalitären Werten und andererseits aus einer subtilen Diskriminierung von Minderheiten. Das MODE (Motivation and Opportunity as Determinants) Modell (Fazio, 1990) erklärt, wie durch mangelnde Bewusstheit trotz einer egalitären Einstellung Minoritäten diskriminiert werden. Es besteht allerdings der Verdacht, dass nicht in allen Situationen, in denen aversive Rassisten diskriminieren, auch mangelnde Bewusstheit über das Verhalten vorhanden ist. Man kann deshalb aus dem MODE Modell ableiten, dass aversive Rassisten eine Besonderheit in ihrer Motivation haben. Es soll die Annahme geprüft werden, dass bei aversiven Rassisten die intrinsische Motivation zu egalitärem Verhalten zu einem positiven Selbstbild gehört, sie diese aber eigentlich nicht haben. Dazu werden die intrinsische und extrinsische Motivationsskala (Plant & Devine, 1998) unter verschiedenen Bedingungen vorgegeben. Einerseits unter einer anonymen Bedingung und einer Bogus-Pipeline-Bedingung (Jones & Sigall, 1971). Aversive Rassisten sollten aus Selbstwertschutztendenzen in der anonymen Bedingung höhere intrinsische Motivationswerte zeigen als in der Bogus-Pipeline-Bedingung. Alle anderen Rassismustypen sollten keine Selbstbilddiskrepanzen aufweisen und deshalb keine Veränderungen zwischen Kontroll- und Bogus-Pipeline-Bedingung aufweisen. Das Ergebnis weist darauf hin, dass aversive Rassisten als Einzige in der Bogus-Pipeline-Bedingung eine signifikant niedrigere intrinsische Motivation zeigen

Communicating Synthetic Biology: from the lab via the media to the broader public

We present insights from a study on communicating Synthetic Biology conducted in 2008. Scientists were invited to write press releases on their work; the resulting texts were passed on to four journalists from major Austrian newspapers and magazines. The journalists in turn wrote articles that were used as stimulus material for eight group discussions with select members of the Austrian public. The results show that, from the lab via the media to the general public, communication is characterized by two important tendencies: first, communication becomes increasingly focused on concrete applications of Synthetic Biology; and second, biotechnology represents an important benchmark against which Synthetic Biology is being evaluated

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

MASAVE: A mobile test system for audio-visual experiments at home

We present a mobile apparatus for audio-visual experiments (MASAVE) that is easy to build with a low budget and which can run listening tests, pupillometry, and eye-tracking, e.g., for measuring listening effort and fatigue. The design goal was to keep the MASAVE at affordable costs and to enable shipping the preassembled system to the subjects for self-setup in home environments. Two experiments were conducted to validate the proposed system. In the first experiment we tested the reliability of speech perception data gathered using the MASAVE in a less controlled, rather noisy environment. Speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured in a lobby versus a sound-attenuated boot. Results show that the data from both sites did not differ significantly and SRT measurements were possible even for speech levels as low as 40–45 dB SPL. The second experiment validated the usability of the preassembled system and the use of pupillometry measurements under conditions of darkness, which can be achieved by applying a textile cover over the MASAVE and the subject to block out light. The results suggest that the tested participants had no usability issues with setting up the system, that the temperature under the cover increased by several degrees only when the measurement duration was rather long, and that pupillometry measurements can be made with the proposed setup. Overall, the validations indicate that the MASAVE can serve as an alternative when lab testing is not possible, and to gather more data or to reach subject groups that are otherwise difficult to reach

Role of early minimal-invasive spine fixation in acute thoracic and lumbar spine trauma

Polytraumatized patients following a severe trauma suffer from substantial disturbances of the immune system. Secondary organ dysfunction syndromes due to early hyperinflammation and late immunparalysis contribute to adverse outcome. Consequently the principle of damage control surgery / orthopedics developed in the last two decades to limit secondary iatrogenic insult in these patients. New percutaneous internal fixators provide implants for a damage control approach of spinal trauma in polytraumatized patients. The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of minimal-invasive instrumentation in the setting of minor and major trauma and to discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of this procedure

The Interactive Urban Robot: User-centered development and final field trial of a direction requesting robot

In this article, we present the user-centered development of the service robot IURO. IURO’s goal is to find the way to a designated place in town without any previous map knowledge, just by retrieving information from asking pedestrians for directions. We present the 3-years development process,which involved a series of studies on its appearance, communication model, feedback modalities, and social navigation mechanisms. Our main contribution lies within the final field trial.With the autonomous IURO platform, we performed a series of six way-finding runs (over 24 hours of run-time in total) in the city center of Munich, Germany. The robot interacted with approximately 100 pedestrians of which 36 interactions included a full route dialogue. A variety of empirical methods was used to explore reactions of primary users (pedestrians who actually interacted with the robot) and secondary users (bystanders who observed others interacting). The gathered data provides insights into usability, user experience, and acceptance of IURO and allowed us deriving recommendations for the development of other socially interactive robots

The Interactive Urban Robot : User-centered development and final field trial of a direction requesting robot

In this article, we present the user-centered development of the service robot IURO. IUROs goal is to find the way to a designated place in town without any previous map knowledge, just by retrieving information from asking pedestrians for directions. We present the 3-years development process,which involved a series of studies on its appearance, communication model, feedback modalities, and social navigation mechanisms. Our main contribution lies within the final field trial.With the autonomous IURO platform, we performed a series of six way-finding runs (over 24 hours of run-time in total) in the city center of Munich, Germany. The robot interacted with approximately 100 pedestrians of which 36 interactions included a full route dialogue. A variety of empirical methods was used to explore reactions of primary users (pedestrians who actually interacted with the robot) and secondary users (bystanders who observed others interacting). The gathered data provides insights into usability, user experience, and acceptance of IURO and allowed us deriving recommendations for the development of other socially interactive robots