Zum Einfluß der Befragungstechnik auf den Rücklauf bei schriftlichen Umfragen: experimentelle Befunde zur 'Total-Design-Methode'

Im Rahmen einer nach der Total Design Methode (TDM, Dillmann 1978) durchgeführten schriftlichen Befragung in Deutschland wird (1) der Einfluß des Aufmerksamkeitswertes der Befragung, (2) der Einfluß der Stellungnahme anerkannter Autoritäten und (3) der Fragebogenlänge auf den Rücklauf experimentell untersucht. Zur Studienpopulation zählten vier verschiedene Abschlußjahrgänge von früheren Berufsakademie-Studenten. Die Studie behandelt Einstellungen zur Aus- und Weiterbildung nach Studienende. Da in dieser Studie an einer Spezialpopulation nur Teilaspekte der TDM experimentell überprüft werden, soll in weiteren Studien der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche der Variablen der TDM unter welchen Bedingungen eindeutig ausschöpfungserhöhend wirken und welche nicht. (ICE2

Increasing awareness of climate change with immersive virtual reality

Previous research has shown that immersive virtual reality (VR) is a suitable tool for visualizing the consequences of climate change. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether visualization in VR has a stronger influence on climate change awareness and environmental attitudes compared to traditional media. Furthermore, it was examined how realistic a VR experience has to be in order to have an effect. The VR experience consisted of a model of the Aletsch glacier (Switzerland) melting over the course of 220 years. Explicit measurements (new environmental paradigm NEP, climate change scepticism, and nature relatedness) and an implicit measurement (implicit association test) were collected before and after the VR intervention and compared to three different non-VR control conditions (video, images with text, and plain text). In addition, the VR environment was varied in terms of degrees of realism and sophistication (3 conditions: abstract visualization, less sophisticated realistic visualization, more sophisticated realistic visualization). The six experimental conditions (3 VR conditions, three control conditions) were modeled as mixed effects, with VR versus control used as a fixed effect in a mixed effects modeling framework. Across all six conditions, environmental awareness (NEP) was higher after the participants (N = 142) had been confronted with the glacier melting, while no differences were found for nature relatedness and climate change scepticism before and after the interventions. There was no significant difference between VR and control conditions for any of the four measurements. Nevertheless, contrast analyses revealed that environmental awareness increased significantly only for the VR but not for the control conditions, suggesting that VR is more likely to lead to attitude change. Our results show that exposure to VR environments successfully increased environmental awareness independently of the design choices, suggesting that even abstract and less sophisticated VR environment designs may be sufficient to increase pro-environmental attitudes

Managing Things and Services with Semantics: A Survey

This paper presents a survey on the usage, opportunities and pitfalls of semantic technologies in the Internet of Things. The survey was conducted in the context of a semantic enterprise integration platform. In total we surveyed sixty-one individuals from industry and academia on their views and current usage of IoT technologies in general, and semantic technologies in particular. Our semantic enterprise integration platform aims for interoperability at a service level, as well as at a protocol level. Therefore, also questions regarding the use of application layer protocols, network layer protocols and management protocols were integrated into the survey. The survey suggests that there is still a lot of heterogeneity in IoT technologies, but first indications of the use of standardized protocols exist. Semantic technologies are being recognized as of potential use, mainly in the management of things and services. Nonetheless, the participants still see many obstacles which hinder the widespread use of semantic technologies: Firstly, a lack of training as traditional embedded programmers are not well aware of semantic technologies. Secondly, a lack of standardization in ontologies, which would enable interoperability and thirdly, a lack of good tooling support

New goblin spider genus Prethopalpus.

113 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.The new goblin spider genus Prethopalpus is restricted to the Australasian tropics, from the lower Himalayan Mountains in Nepal and India to the Malaysian Peninsula, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. Prethopalpus contains those species with a swollen palpal patella, which is one to two times the size of the femur, together with a cymbium and bulb that is usually separated, although it is largely fused in four species. The type species Opopaea fosuma Burger et al. from Sumatra, and Camptoscaphiella infernalis Harvey and Edward from Western Australia are newly transferred to Prethopalpus. The genus consists of 41 species of which 39 are newly described: P. ilam Baehr ([male, female]) from Nepal; P. khasi Baehr ([male]), P. madurai Baehr ([male]), P. mahanadi Baehr ([male, female]), and P. meghalaya Baehr ([male, female]) from India; P. bali Baehr ([male]), P. bellicosus Baehr and Thoma ([male, female]), P. brunei Baehr ([male, female]), P. deelemanae Baehr and Thoma ([male]), P. java Baehr ([male, female]), P. kranzae Baehr ([male]), P. kropfi Baehr ([male, female]), P. leuser Baehr ([male, female]), P. magnocularis Baehr and Thoma ([male]), P. pahang Baehr ([male]), P. perak Baehr ([male, female]), P. sabah Baehr ([male, female]), P. sarawak Baehr ([male]), P. schwendingeri Baehr ([male, female]), and P. utara Baehr ([male, female]) from Indonesia and Malaysia; and P. alexanderi Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. attenboroughi Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. blosfeldsorum Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. boltoni Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. callani Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. cooperi Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. eberhardi Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. framenaui Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. humphreysi Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. kintyre Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. scanloni Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. pearsoni Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. julianneae Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. maini Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. marionae Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. platnicki Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]), P. oneillae Baehr and Harvey ([male]), P. rawlinsoni Baehr and Harvey ([male]), and P. tropicus Baehr and Harvey ([male, female]) from Australia and Papua New Guinea. Three separate keys to species from different geographical regions are provided. Most species are recorded from single locations and only three species are more widely distributed. A significant radiation of blind troglobites comprising 14 species living in subterranean ecosystems in Western Australia is discussed. These include several species that lack abdominal scuta, a feature previously used to define subfamilies of Oonopidae

Synthesis and Structure Elucidation of Glutamyl-Queuosine

Queuosine is one of the most complex hypermodified RNA nucleosides found in the Wobble position of tRNAs. In addition to Queuosine itself, several further modified derivatives are known, where the cyclopentene ring structure is additionally modified by a galactosyl-, a mannosyl-, or a glutamyl-residue. While sugar-modified Queuosine derivatives are found in the tRNAs of vertebrates, glutamylated Queuosine (gluQ) is only known in bacteria. The exact structure of gluQ, particularly with respect to how and where the glutamyl side chain is connected to the Queuosine cyclopentene side chain, is unknown. Here we report the first synthesis of gluQ and, using UHPLC-MS-coinjection and NMR studies, we show that the isolated natural gluQ is the α-allyl-connected gluQ compound

Robotic Integral Attachment

Integral joints provide a rapid, simple and mechanically strong connection between parts. Our investigation focuses on the assembly of cross-laminated wood veneer plates, where previous studies have shown that the strength of through-tenons is equivalent or superior to state-of-the-art fasteners such as screws or nails. This mechanical behaviour is highly dependent on a precise fit of the joints, where no gaps are left between the parts. However, the manual assembly of such tight-fitting joints can be complicated. Thanks to its rectangular cross-section, a single through-tenon joint is a sufficient assembly guide for an entire plate, but multiple through-tenons are required to establish a mechanically strong connection

Spatial attention enhances object coding in local and distributed representations of the lateral occipital complex

The modulation of neural activity in visual cortex is thought to be a key mechanism of visual attention. The investigation of attentional modulation in high-level visual areas, however, is hampered by the lack of clear tuning or contrast response functions. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study we therefore systematically assessed how small voxel-wise biases in object preference across hundreds of voxels in the lateral occipital complex were affected when attention was directed to objects. We found that the strength of attentional modulation depended on a voxel's object preference in the absence of attention, a pattern indicative of an amplificatory mechanism. Our results show that such attentional modulation effectively increased the mutual information between voxel responses and object identity. Further, these local modulatory effects led to improved information-based object readout at the level of multi-voxel activation patterns and to an increased reproducibility of these patterns across repeated presentations. We conclude that attentional modulation enhances object coding in local and distributed object representations of the lateral occipital complex

Sterben und Erben in der digitalen Welt. von der Tabuisierung zur Sensibilisierung. Crossing Borders

Immer mehr Menschen verfügen über Social-Media-Profile und hinterlassen immer mehr Daten und Spuren im Internet. Doch was passiert im Todesfall? Profile zu löschen oder Zugriff auf Daten zu erlangen, ist für Angehörige kompliziert oder unmöglich. Dieser Ergebnisbericht eines interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekts zeichnet ein differenzierteres Bild der grundlegenden Problematik, der unterschiedlichen Interessensgruppen und Spannungsfelder sowie der erb- und persönlichkeitsrechtlichen Fragestellungen im Umgang mit dem digitalen Nachlass. Auf dieser Grundlage wird ein erweiterter Lösungsraum für den digitalen Nachlass vorgeschlagen, der nicht nur das Pionierfeld digitale Nachlassplanung und Willensvollstreckung präzisiert, sondern auch die Sicherstellung der Datenherrschaft zu Lebzeiten, das "Recht auf Vergessen" sowie den Bedarf an Beratung und Sensibilisierung der Internetnutzerschaft und der Plattformbetreiber einbezieht. Zielpublikum: Nutzerinnen und Nutzer von Social Medi

Impact of respirator versus surgical masks on SARS-CoV-2 acquisition in healthcare workers: a prospective multicentre cohort.

BACKGROUND There is insufficient evidence regarding the role of respirators in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We analysed the impact of filtering facepiece class 2 (FFP2) versus surgical masks on the risk of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition among Swiss healthcare workers (HCW). METHODS Our prospective multicentre cohort enrolled HCW from June to August 2020. Participants were asked about COVID-19 risk exposures/behaviours, including preferentially worn mask type when caring for COVID-19 patients outside of aerosol-generating procedures. The impact of FFP2 on (1) self-reported SARS-CoV-2-positive nasopharyngeal PCR/rapid antigen tests captured during weekly surveys, and (2) SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion between baseline and January/February 2021 was assessed. RESULTS We enrolled 3259 participants from nine healthcare institutions, whereof 716 (22%) preferentially used FFP2. Among these, 81/716 (11%) reported a SARS-CoV-2-positive swab, compared to 352/2543 (14%) surgical mask users; seroconversion was documented in 85/656 (13%) FFP2 and 426/2255 (19%) surgical mask users. Adjusted for baseline characteristics, COVID-19 exposure, and risk behaviour, FFP2 use was non-significantly associated with decreased risk for SARS-CoV-2-positive swab (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.8, 95% CI 0.6-1.0) and seroconversion (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-1.0); household exposure was the strongest risk factor (aHR 10.1, 95% CI 7.5-13.5; aOR 5.0, 95% CI 3.9-6.5). In subgroup analysis, FFP2 use was clearly protective among those with frequent (> 20 patients) COVID-19 exposure (aHR 0.7 for positive swab, 95% CI 0.5-0.8; aOR 0.6 for seroconversion, 95% CI 0.4-1.0). CONCLUSIONS Respirators compared to surgical masks may convey additional protection from SARS-CoV-2 for HCW with frequent exposure to COVID-19 patients