Incentives and Creativity in Groups

It has been argued that monetary incentives restrain individual creativity and hamper performance in jobs requiring out of the box thinking. This paper reports from an experiment designed to test if the negative incentive effect is present also when individuals work together to solve such problems. We do not find a negative impact of incentives on group performance. As a comparison we ran the same experiment (the Candle Problem) with and without incentives for individuals as well. Incentives did not reduce performance there either. Comparing individuals with groups we find that team-work facilitates creative problems solving. Individuals appear to be more creative when working together than when working alone

Sperm competition and the evolution of spermatogenesis

Spermatogenesis is a long and complex process that, despite the shared overall goal of producing the male gamete, displays striking amounts of interspecific diversity. In this review, we argue that sperm competition has been an important selection pressure acting on multiple aspects of spermatogenesis, causing variation in the number and morphology of sperm produced, and in the molecular and cellular processes by which this happens. We begin by reviewing the basic biology of spermatogenesis in some of the main animal model systems to illustrate this diversity, and then ask to what extent this variation arises from the evolutionary forces acting on spermatogenesis, most notably sperm competition. We explore five specific aspects of spermatogenesis from an evolutionary perspective, namely: (i) interspecific diversity in the number and morphology of sperm produced; (ii) the testicular organizations and stem cell systems used to produce them; (iii) the large number and high evolutionary rate of genes underpinning spermatogenesis; (iv) the repression of transcription during spermiogenesis and its link to the potential for haploid selection; and (v) the phenomenon of selection acting at the level of the germline. Overall we conclude that adopting an evolutionary perspective can shed light on many otherwise opaque features of spermatogenesis, and help to explain the diversity of ways in which males of different species perform this fundamentally important proces

Visualization of climate simulation data in virtual reality using commercial game engines

Due to the size of its customer base the video game industry has long been the best-funded proponent of innovative real-time computer graphics. Many advancements in the field of computer graphics, software and hardware, have become cost-effective due to their use in video games, which in turn funded even further research and breakthroughs. Recent changes in the monetization of commercial game engines made their use in less revenue driven institutions affordable and, hence, possible. This allows us, given suitable hardware, to build and run computationally expensive fully interactive real-time visualizations at a fraction of the cost and time. We can thus investigate and explore the data in our virtual reality application far sooner. Additionally, we are able to spend more time to iteratively refine the user interaction as well as the preprocessing of the raw scientific data. We supply our visualization with the output data of ClimEx’ computational run on the SuperMUC. ClimEx is a research project that studies the effects of climate change on meteorological and hydrological extreme events. It features a multitude of climate-relevant variables and observes the time span between 1950 and 2100. For our use case we chose to compare three different precipitation events. Each event consists of simulated 60 hours of rainfall data anteceding a potential 100-year flood, which is a flood event that has an annual exceedance rate of 1%. The first event draws from historical data and represents the rain leading up to the 1999 Pentecost flood. We compare these data with two computer generated prospective events, which take place in 2060 and 2081, respectively. Since we wish to gain knowledge on strong local extrema as well as the comprehensive overall trend of the attributes, we chose to display the data in virtual reality. The virtually unlimited number of perspectives and points of view simplify investigating and understanding the three-dimensional data. We are also able to place the observer at the center of the data and empower them to interact with and steer the visualization in intuitive ways. By utilizing a tool like virtual reality, we are able to create an immersive, interactive and engaging user experience, which further facilitates the user’s ability to focus on the visual display and extract information from the displayed data. This allows users, especially non-expert users, to grasp the data we present in our visualization with less effort. In our paper we present the necessary steps to create an immersive virtual reality 3D visualization from raw scientific data based on our use case. This entails several aspects of pre-processing, a simple, suitable user interface as well as our solutions to the challenges we encountered

CAMP@FLASH: an end-station for imaging, electron- and ion-spectroscopy, and pump–probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser

The non-monochromatic beamline BL1 at the FLASH free-electron laser facility at DESY was upgraded with new transport and focusing optics, and a new permanent end-station, CAMP, was installed. This multi-purpose instrument is optimized for electron- and ion-spectroscopy, imaging and pump–probe experiments at free-electron lasers. It can be equipped with various electron- and ion-spectrometers, along with large-area single-photon-counting pnCCD X-ray detectors, thus enabling a wide range of experiments from atomic, molecular, and cluster physics to material and energy science, chemistry and biology. Here, an overview of the layout, the beam transport and focusing capabilities, and the experimental possibilities of this new end-station are presented, as well as results from its commissioning

Solving the "Candle Problem:" exploring the link between financial incentives and performance in individuals and groups.

Sam Glucksberg demonstrated in an experiment that the use of financial incentives could reduce performance in solving an insight problem. I wish to conduct a modified version of this experiment to investigate if his results can be duplicated. In addition, I wish to examine if the results are the same when a group of participants attempt to solve the same problem as individual participants. The experiment was divided into two sessions. One session where pairs attempted to solve the problem, and one session where individual participants were asked to solve the same problem. Within each session the participants were either assigned to an incentivized or a non-incentivized condition. The results from the experiment indicate that the use of financial incentives created no difference in the mean solution time within each session of the experiment; the incentivized and the non-incentivized participants performed equally well in both sessions. The difference between the sessions was, however, significant with the participants in the group session performing significantly better than the individual participants. The results also indicate that males might have a lower mean solution times than females

Influence of the Initial Sugar Concentration and Supplementation with Yeast Extract on Succinic Acid Fermentation in a Lactose-Based Medium

The aim of this study was to investigate the production of succinic acid from lactose concentrate, a by-product of cheese-making, using Actinobacillus succinogenes and Basfia succiniciproducens. Although the ability of these strains to metabolize different sugars is already known, their application in the conversion of lactose bears high potential for optimization. With regard to B. succiniciproducens, this approach is completely novel. In particular, the effect of the medium’s sugar concentration as well as the ability of its supplementation with yeast extract to prevent a lack of essential nutrient proteins and vitamins was examined. Lactose-based media containing sugar concentrations of between 20 and 65 g L−1 and 5 g L−1 of yeast extract were fermented, with both strains showing comparable performances. The best results in terms of succinic acid yield and acid concentration—0.57 g g−1 initial sugar and 23 g L−1—were achieved at an initial sugar concentration of 43 g L−1. The necessity of yeast extract was demonstrated using the sugar-optimized medium without supplementation. As a result, the yield and concentration of succinic acid dropped to 0.34 g g−1 and 13 g L−1 and the sugar consumption decreased from more than 99 to less than 55%. Therefore, the supplementation amount of 5 g L−1 of yeast extract can be regarded as well-balanced.Peer Reviewe

Sperm competition and the evolution of spermatogenesis

Ramm SA, Schärer L, Ehmcke J, Wistuba J. Sperm competition and the evolution of spermatogenesis. Molecular Human Reproduction. 2014;20(12: SI):1169-1179.Spermatogenesis is a long and complex process that, despite the shared overall goal of producing the male gamete, displays striking amounts of interspecific diversity. In this review, we argue that sperm competition has been an important selection pressure acting on multiple aspects of spermatogenesis, causing variation in the number and morphology of sperm produced, and in the molecular and cellular processes by which this happens. We begin by reviewing the basic biology of spermatogenesis in some of the main animal model systems to illustrate this diversity, and then ask to what extent this variation arises from the evolutionary forces acting on spermatogenesis, most notably sperm competition. We explore five specific aspects of spermatogenesis from an evolutionary perspective, namely: (i) interspecific diversity in the number and morphology of sperm produced; (ii) the testicular organizations and stem cell systems used to produce them; (iii) the large number and high evolutionary rate of genes underpinning spermatogenesis; (iv) the repression of transcription during spermiogenesis and its link to the potential for haploid selection; and (v) the phenomenon of selection acting at the level of the germline. Overall we conclude that adopting an evolutionary perspective can shed light on many otherwise opaque features of spermatogenesis, and help to explain the diversity of ways in which males of different species perform this fundamentally important process

Pallidal neurostimulation in patients with medication-refractory cervical dystonia: a randomised, sham-controlled trial

Background Cervical dystonia is managed mainly by repeated botulinum toxin injections. We aimed to establish whether pallidal neurostimulation could improve symptoms in patients not adequately responding to chemodenervation or oral drug treatment. Methods In this randomised, sham-controlled trial, we recruited patients with cervical dystonia from centres in Germany, Norway, and Austria. Eligible patients (ie, those aged 18-75 years, disease duration >= 3 years, Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale [TWSTRS] severity score >= 15 points) were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive active neurostimulation (frequency 180 Hz; pulse width 120 mu s; amplitude 0.5 V below adverse event threshold) or sham stimulation (amplitude 0 V) by computer-generated randomisation lists with randomly permuted block lengths stratified by centre. All patients, masked to treatment assignment, were implanted with a deep brain stimulation device and received their assigned treatment for 3 months. Neurostimulation was activated in the sham group at 3 months and outcomes were reassessed in all patients after 6 months of active treatment. Treating physicians were not masked. The primary endpoint was the change in the TWSTRS severity score from baseline to 3 months, assessed by two masked dystonia experts using standardised videos, analysed by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00148889. Findings Between Jan 19, 2006, and May 29, 2008, we recruited 62 patients, of whom 32 were randomly assigned to neurostimulation and 30 to sham stimulation. Outcome data were recorded in 60 (97%) patients at 3 months and 56 (90%) patients at 6 months. At 3 months, the reduction in dystonia severity was significantly greater with neurostimulation (-5.1 points [SD 5.1], 95% CI -7.0 to 3.5) than with sham stimulation (-1.3 [2.4], -2.2 to -0.4, p=0.0024; mean between-group difference 3.8 points, 1.8 to 5.8) in the intention-to-treat population. Over the course of the study, 21 adverse events (five serious) were reported in 11 (34%) of 32 patients in the neurostimulation group compared with 20 (11 serious) in nine (30%) of 30 patients in the sham-stimulation group. Serious adverse events were typically related to the implant procedure or the implanted device, and 11 of 16 resolved without sequelae. Dysarthria (in four patients assigned to neurostimulation vs three patients assigned to sham stimulation), involuntary movements (ie, dyskinesia or worsening of dystonia; five vs one), and depression (one vs two) were the most common non-serious adverse events reported during the course of the study. Interpretation Pallidal neurostimulation for 3 months is more effective than sham stimulation at reducing symptoms of cervical dystonia. Extended follow-up is needed to ascertain the magnitude and stability of chronic neurostimulation effects before this treatment can be recommended as routine for patients who are not responding to conventional medical therapy