University of Konstanz
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Increasing individual-level climate mitigation action : the role of behavioral dimensions and inequality perceptions
No full textAs behavioral change is an important part of climate change mitigation efforts, scholars have increasingly advocated for a targeted focus on behaviors with high emission reduction potential. This study follows up on this imperative by conducting a factorial survey experiment, analyzing the willingness to adapt climate-friendly behavior in lifestyle dimensions with high emission reduction potential in a representative sample of the adult population of Germany. Moreover, we are employing novel approaches to motivate behavioral change through the lens of perceived inequality in climate change, priming our respondents about economic, generational, or global inequality. Our results identify lifestyle dimensions where behavioral resistance is most pronounced, particularly in meat consumption and car use, and show which dimensions have higher potential for adaptation (e.g. reducing air travel). Our priming experiment reveals that the potential for motivating climate-friendly behavior differs between the three primes. However, while addressing inequality in climate change did dampen the opposition to behavioral change, it alone was insufficient to motivate people in most lifestyle dimensions, emphasizing the need for additional structural transformations in society. Our study sheds light on the complexity of motivating climate-friendly behavior by allowing to distinguish between different lifestyle dimensions with high emission reduction potential and offers new starting points for framing the necessity of behavioral change.publishe
A look in the mirror - body exposure in clinical practice
No full textBackground
The dissemination of evidence-based techniques is critical for the successful treatment of eating disorders in clinical practice. A growing number of studies suggests that body exposure is an effective technique to treat body image disturbance in eating disorders. However, the dissemination of body exposure among psychotherapists in clinical practice remains unclear.
Methods
An online survey was conducted among licensed psychotherapists in Germany. The dissemination of body exposure in clinical practice, psychotherapists’ characteristics (such as clinical training, attitudes towards exposure, confidence), and therapists’ experiences with benefits and side-effects of body exposure were assessed.
Results
Data of 230 psychotherapists were analysed. More than half of them (58.3%) applied body exposure in their clinical practice. Yet, body exposure was only offered to 37.3% of their eating disorder patients. Moreover, 56.7% of psychotherapists delivering body exposure indicated that they have not received any training in this technique. Self-reported confidence in delivering body exposure correlated significantly with the number of patients treated with body exposure. Psychotherapists who applied body exposure reported minor side-effects and that the majority of their patients profited from this technique.
Conclusions
Our results offer insights into the dissemination of body exposure in clinical practice in Germany. Overall, body exposure is still underused considering the empirical evidence demonstrating the potential of body exposure to treat body image disturbances effectively. Moreover, with regard to potential barriers of using body exposure, our data suggest that training opportunities for clinicians may facilitate the dissemination of this technique in clinical practice.publishe
The power of caring touch : from survival to prosocial cooperation
No full textCooperation is a pivotal biological phenomenon that occurs in diverse forms. In species that engage in helping, individuals vary in the time they spend together and the degree of their physical proximity, which affects the extent of physical touch between individuals. Here, we propose that touch activates a hormonal feedback loop that supports bond formation and maintenance in mating, parenting, and social contexts. Notably, extended parenting is essential for the emergence of enduring bonds and the development of the prosocial mindset that fosters forms of cooperation with delayed benefits. We incorporate these ideas into the caring-touch hypothesis (CT-H), which emphasizes the role of oxytocin-vasotocin hormones, touch, and enduring bonds in the evolution of different forms of cooperation.publishe
Hermeneutic Ambiguities : Language, Historicality, and Truth
No full textA highly sophisticated conception of language constitutes the core of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. On the one hand, Gadamer’s focus on the humanities and historical knowledge is intimately connected with theories and traditions of interpretation. Interpretation is tacitly present in everyday communication and becomes explicit in the philological and historical disciplines where epistemological and methodological questions of validity and justification are discussed.
On the other hand, Gadamer’s thinking turns away from such systematically oriented approaches and advocates a contrasting and encompassing view. This orientation takes refuge in Heidegger’s thinking and puts language and understanding on a completely different level in comparison to the cognitive conceptions of truth, meaning and interpretation.
Why does Gadamer distance himself from the cognitive conceptions of understanding and interpretation?—Gadamer’s move seems to be largely motivated by the insight, that linguistics and orthodox philosophies of language are not capable to tackle the philosophically basic question What is language? in its sober generality, because they are always already using and presupposing language, at least in the form of a metalanguage. Of course, every language can be described by a metalanguage. This is the basis of linguistic and philosophical theories of language. But in this framework, there is no possibility to give a non-circular account of language. Therefore, Gadamer dismisses the project of a systematically constructed theory of language altogether and acknowledges the necessity of the hermeneutical circle.
The relation of language and history in Gadamer highlights the fact that human languages are not stable and invariant systems, but dynamic and fluid media of conceptualization and communication.
The processes of modification, transformation and development of languages are intrinsically tied to the cultural, social and political dimensions of human live. Therefore, historicality is an integral dimension of language. Language gives us the resources for forming beliefs, desires and intentions. It would be a rather dangerous understatement to say that language and life-world are intimately related. There is no life-world, there is no experience independent from language and its reservoir of concepts. Conversely, there is no pure language, immune from human experience and contact with the life-world.
Whereas it seems easy to follow Gadamer’s lead with respect to the conceptions of language and historicality, the relation of language, historicality, and truth is a riddle. Current philosophical notions of truth may be compatible with Gadamer’s thinking, but for Gadamer truth is not primarily operative on a logical or epistemological level. He thereby obliterates the distinction of sense, meaning and truth.publishe
Keto-Polyethylene Material from Pd(II)-Catalyzed Copolymerization with Continuous Carbon Monoxide Feed
No full textPd(II) phosphinosulfonate catalysts were employed in the nonalternating copolymerization of ethylene and carbon monoxide to produce keto-polyethylenes with high-density polyethylene-like materials properties. The different reactivities of the two monomers were addressed with a customized reactor setup that allows the feeding of ethylene and CO at very different feed ratios and automatic repressurization to replenish consumed monomers upon reaching a pressure threshold. Four literature-known catalysts were screened and the keto group microstructure of the resulting keto-PEs aligned well with the activation free energy differences (ΔΔG‡) of the alternating and nonalternating pathways, calculated via density functional theory. Pd-2 with a 2′,6′-dimethoxy-1,1′-biphenyl-substituted phosphine motif was the most active catalyst, yielding copolymers with the highest molecular weight (around 30–40 kg mol–1). Consequently, Pd-2 was subjected to further optimization of the E/CO copolymerization to obtain HDPE-like materials. Tensile-testing specimens of keto-PEs with 0.5 and 1.4 mol % of keto groups were obtained via melt pressing and exhibited mechanical properties on par with the HDPE reference material.publishe
The influence of one's immersion ability on physiological and psychological relaxation in a virtual natural relaxation video
No full textIn recent years there has been an increasing interest in the effects of relaxation. Experiencing nature, even in virtual reality (VR), has been shown to decrease stress and improve well-being. But research into the exact mechanisms of how relaxation has its positive effects is scarce. This project aims to answer the question if an individual’s ability to immerse in sensory environments has an influence on their ability to relax. Immersion ability was collected by the immersion tendency questionnaire, developed by Witmer and Singer (1994). For this study 60 participants took part in a relaxation intervention. Throughout the exposure, heart rate variability (HRV) was measured, and subjective re-laxation was recorded. 57 datasets were included in the results. The VR only inflicted an increase in relaxation in subjective relaxation. The HRV markers “High Frequency” (HF) and “root mean square of successive differences” (RMSSD) values did not show in-creased parasympathetic activity in reaction to the relaxation task. Repeated measure ANCOVA did not find an influence of an individual’s immersion ability on their ability to relax, neither subjective nor objective. As the markers of physiological relaxation did not increase, the results are inconclusive. Problematic factors in this study could be that the VR environment was not immersive or long enough. Additional limitations are discussed.publishe
Self-Medication in Humans (Homo sapiens) and Bonobos (Pan paniscus) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
No full textIn this article I engage with the complex interplay of primates, plants and parasites. We learn about the ethnobotanical records of an indigenous population and their medicinal plants, and get a glimpse into the interplay of man and ape in a jointly used ecosystem. I combine my long-term research on free-living bonobos, a species endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with historical work. I show the surprising and extraordinary ingestion of Manniophyton fulvum, a wild Euphorbiaceae plant widely used across Africa, bearing specific chemical and mechanical properties that make it suitable for gastro-intestinal self-care.publishe
Reverse engineering the control law for schooling in zebrafish using virtual reality
No full textRevealing the evolved mechanisms that give rise to collective behavior is a central objective in the study of cellular and organismal systems. In addition, understanding the algorithmic basis of social interactions in a causal and quantitative way offers an important foundation for subsequently quantifying social deficits. Here, with virtual reality technology, we used virtual robot fish to reverse engineer the sensory-motor control of social response during schooling in a vertebrate model: juvenile zebrafish (Danio rerio). In addition to providing a highly controlled means to understand how zebrafish translate visual input into movement decisions, networking our systems allowed real fish to swim and interact together in the same virtual world. Thus, we were able to directly test models of social interactions in situ. A key feature of social response is shown to be single- and multitarget-oriented pursuit. This is based on an egocentric representation of the positional information of conspecifics and is highly robust to incomplete sensory input. We demonstrated, including with a Turing test and a scalability test for pursuit behavior, that all key features of this behavior are accounted for by individuals following a simple experimentally derived proportional derivative control law, which we termed “BioPD.” Because target pursuit is key to effective control of autonomous vehicles, we evaluated—as a proof of principle—the potential use of this simple evolved control law for human-engineered systems. In doing so, we found close-to-optimal pursuit performance in autonomous vehicle (terrestrial, airborne, and watercraft) pursuit while requiring limited system-specific tuning or optimization.publishe
Structure and dynamics of amorphous calcium carbonate by magic-angle spinning NMR
No full textCharacterizing the atomic-level structure of amorphous solids are challenging, because they lack the ordered arrangement of atoms found in crystals. A prominent example, which is omnipresent in nature, is amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC, CaCO3⋅H2O). ACC plays a key role in biomineralization processes and understanding its structure is key to understanding these processes. Despite its significance, a structural model of ACC is not yet available.
Chapters 2 and 3 of this thesis show the strength of MAS NMR in studying the structure and dynamics of ACC. A series of one- and two-dimensional NMR experiments on ACC nanoparticles shows the presence of two chemically distinct environments. The first environment consists of immobile calcium and carbonate ions with embedded structural water molecules, which undergo 180° flips on a millisecond time scale. The second environment consists of water molecules, which undergo slow, but isotropic motion, and dissolved hydroxide ions. The second environment forms a network through the first environment, revealing the history of ACC as a colloid. The magnetic properties of the 1H and 13C nuclei in the first, rigid environment of ACC are similar to those in monohydrocalcite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate with the same stoichiometry. These observations constitute a significant step forward in developing a structural model for ACC. Furthermore, the NMR-based structure-refinement approach presented in Chapter 3 can be used to characterize inorganic amorphous phases in general.
While MAS NMR is thus a powerful spectroscopic tool, it suffers from a lack of sensitivity. This makes detecting specific atomic information in complex chemical systems very time-consuming or even impossible. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is a solution to this problem. By transferring polarization from unpaired electrons to nuclei, a 658-fold enhancement of NMR sensitivity can be achieved. In current commercial MAS DNP instruments, polarization transfer is induced by continuous microwave irradiation. This is clearly not the most efficient approach at high magnetic fields, which are essential to achieve chemical shift resolution, or when - or -block elements are used as a source of electron spin polarization. Chapter 4 presents an alternate approach namely to transfer polarization by pulse sequence, analogous to pulse sequences used in NMR, EPR, or MRI. The two-pulse phase modulation (TPPM) DNP pulse sequence is introduced which has a high-field compatible matching condition. A general theoretical description is provided for electron-proton polarization transfer by periodic DNP pulse sequences. Experiments and spin dynamics simulations at 1.2 T show that at high microwave peak power, the TPPM DNP pulse sequence outperforms other DNP pulse sequences with a high-field compatible matching condition, while the X-inverse-X (XiX) DNP pulse sequence is most efficient at low peak power. The experimental and theoretical results presented in Chapter 4 provide important reference points for developing DNP pulses sequences and effective pulsed MAS DNP.
Finally, Chapter 5 explores triplet DNP, where enhancement of the NMR sensitivity is achieved by transferring polarization from highly polarized photo-excited triplet state. In triplet DNP, enhancement factors of over ~104 are possible. Numerical simulations show that efficient generation of triplet states of pentacene requires relatively long laser pulses (~1 μs). Preliminary experiments show an enhancement, but further optimization and testing are needed.publishe
