Algorithms in digital media and their influence on opinion formation

Summary Search engines, social media and video platforms collect, process and disseminate large volumes of information from different sources. They are also referred to as information intermediaries. The operators of these online platforms develop and use algorithms to decide which messages are displayed to which people and in which order. In contrast to journalistic procedures in newsrooms, these selection decisions are predominantly profit-oriented and not based on journalistic criteria, but on operator interests. The significance of algorithms in digital media for forming individual and public opinions has become the focus of political and social interests, mainly due to undesirable developments such as the spread of fake news or the use of personalised advertising for political campaigns. So far, a few studies are available regarding the influence of digital media on opinion formation in Germany. Measures to regulate algorithms are being discussed or are already in the process of legislative implementation

Transcriptional response of Lactococcus lactis during bacterial emulsification

Microbial surface properties are important for interactions with the environment in which cells reside. Surface properties of lactic acid bacteria significantly vary and some strains can form strong emulsions when mixed with a hydrocarbon. Lactococcus lactis NCDO712 forms oil-in-water emulsions upon mixing of a cell suspension with petroleum. In the emulsion the bacteria locate at the oil-water interphase which is consistent with Pickering stabilization. Cells of strain NCDO712 mixed with sunflower seed oil did not stabilize the oil droplets. This study shows that the addition of either ethanol or ammonium sulfate led to cell aggregation, which subsequently allowed stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions. From this, we conclude that bacterial cell aggregation is important for emulsion droplet stabilization. To determine how bacterial emulsification influences the microbial transcriptome RNAseq analysis was performed on lactococci taken from the oil-water interphase. In comparison to cells in suspension 72 genes were significantly differentially expressed with a more than 4-fold difference. The majority of these genes encode proteins involved in transport processes and the metabolism of amino acids, carbohydrates and ions. Especially the proportion of genes belonging to the CodY regulon was high. Our results also point out that in a complex environment such as food fermentations a heterogeneous response of microbes might be caused by microbe-matrix interactions. In addition, microdroplet technologies are increasingly used in research. The understanding of interactions between bacterial cells and oil-water interphases is of importance for conducting and interpreting such experiments

Algorithmen in digitalen Medien und ihr Einfluss auf die Meinungsbildung. Endbericht zum TA-Projekt

In den vergangenen Jahren nahm die Nutzung digitaler Medien für Nachrichtenzwecke kontinuierlich zu. Damit stieg auch die Bedeutung für die individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung. Die Nachrichtennutzung verlagert sich weg von den linearen Medienangeboten des Rundfunks und der gedruckten Presse hin zu Formaten, die über das Internet aufgerufen oder über Suchmaschinen und soziale Medien verbreitet werden. Bei diesen digitalen Informationsangeboten erfolgt die Auswahl und Strukturierung der Inhalte durch algorithmische Verfahren. Komplexe algorithmische Verfahren und Entscheidungen fußen zunehmend auf Verfahren der künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) oder des maschinellen Lernens zur Analyse und Einordnung großer Datenmengen. Sie sind hinsichtlich ihrer Zielstellungen, Vorgehensmodelle und der verwendeten Daten selbst für Fachleute nicht transparent und damit in ihrer Ergebnisfindung auch nicht nachvollziehbar. Die freie individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung bildet das Fundament demokratischer Gesellschaften. Digitale Medien und algorithmische Verfahren spielen dabei eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle, denn sie prägen die Auswahl der Meldungen, die Nutzer/innen angezeigt werden. In dieser TA-Studie wird die Frage untersucht, welche Veränderungen der Nachrichtenrezeption sich infolge algorithmischer Selektion und Personalisierung beobachten lassen. Die Risiken, aber auch die Potenziale algorithmischer Selektion für die öffentliche Meinungsbildung werden aufgezeigt. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden Optionen der Regulierung im Spannungsfeld von staatlicher Einflussnahme auf gesellschaftliche Kommunikationsprozesse vs. unkontrollierter algorithmischer Steuerung des Angebots von Onlinenachrichten diskutiert

Algorithmen in digitalen Medien und ihr Einfluss auf die Meinungsbildung

In Kürze Suchmaschinen, soziale Medien und Videoplattformen sammeln, verarbeiten und verbreiten eine hohe Anzahl an Informationen aus unterschiedlichen Quellen. Sie werden auch als Informationsintermediäre bezeichnet. Die Betreiber dieser Onlineplattformen entwickeln und nutzen Algorithmen, um zu entscheiden, welche Meldungen welchen Personen in welcher Reihenfolge angezeigt werden. Im Gegensatz zu publizistischen Prozessen in Nachrichtenredaktionen orientieren sich diese Selektionsentscheidungen nicht an journalistischen Kriterien, sondern an den Betreiberinteressen und sind vorwiegend gewinnorientiert ausgerichtet. Die Bedeutung von Algorithmen in digitalen Medien für die individuelle und öffentliche Meinungsbildung ist insbesondere durch Fehlentwicklungen wie die Verbreitung von Falschnachrichten oder die Nutzung personalisierter Werbung für politische Kampagnen in den Blickpunkt des politisch-gesellschaftlichen Interesses gerückt. Zum Einfluss von digitalen Medien auf die Meinungsbildung liegen für Deutschland erst wenige Studien vor. Maßnahmen zur Regulierung von Algorithmen werden diskutiert bzw. befinden sich teils bereits im gesetzgeberischen Umsetzungsprozess. Ausführliche Informationen zum Thema bietet der gleichlautende Endbericht zum TA-Projekt (s.u. Relationen in KITopen

Relationship between treatment delay and final infarct size in STEMI patients treated with abciximab and primary PCI

Background Studies on the impact of time to treatment on myocardial infarct size have yielded   conflicting results. In this study of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) treated   with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), we set out to investigate the   relationship between the time from First Medical Contact (FMC) to the demonstration   of an open infarct related artery (IRA) and final scar size. Between February 2006 and September 2007, 89 STEMI patients treated with primary PCI   were studied with contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (ceMRI) 4 to 8 weeks   after the infarction. Spearman correlation was computed for health care delay time   (defined as time from FMC to PCI) and myocardial injury. Multiple linear regression   was used to determine covariates independently associated with infarct size. Results An occluded artery (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction, TIMI flow 0-1 at initial   angiogram) was seen in 56 patients (63%). The median FMC-to-patent artery was 89 minutes.   There was a weak correlation between time from FMC-to-patent IRA and infarct size,   r = 0.27, p = 0.01. In multiple regression analyses, LAD as the IRA, smoking and an occluded vessel   at the first angiogram, but not delay time, correlated with infarct size. Conclusions In patients with STEMI treated with primary PCI we found a weak correlation between   health care delay time and infarct size. Other factors like anterior infarction, a   patent artery pre-PCI and effects of reperfusion injury may have had greater influence   on infarct size than time-to-treatment per se

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

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