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New is not always better: Virtual reality does not necessarily enhance mnemonic processing
Get PDFIntegrating new technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) can contribute to increasing efficiency in several areas relevant to society. VR can be applied in various contexts and has the potential to improve mnemonic processes and memory performance. However, the specific conditions under which VR is more beneficial than conventional learning methods remain unclear. To further investigate the value of VR for mnemonic processing, participants performed a memory task under three different conditions. For that task, they were presented with rules regarding the spatial arrangement of building blocks with a written text or a video in 2D on a screen or in 3D/360° with a head-mounted display. Following the learning session, memory performance was measured by a recognition test involving a multiple-choice questionnaire, in which participants had to mark the correct arrangement of building blocks, and a construction test, in which they had to arrange five different building blocks according to the rules learned. Additionally, participants had to arrange 38 building blocks according to the rules in a free recall test the following day. Surprisingly, results revealed no superiority effect for learning in VR. Instead, learning the rules with the text yielded the best memory performance results, indicating that prior experience with conventional learning methods facilitates declarative knowledge acquisition. Considering previous findings regarding cognitive processing in VR, our results suggest that in passive learning, processing the more salient and personally relevant virtual stimuli in the surrounding VR environment requires more attentional resources. Therefore, VR impairs focusing on the relevant declarative information and impedes the transfer of the learned knowledge to different contexts. When considering to implement VR, the value to the particular domain and specific learning task should be taken into consideration: For learning basic declarative information without actively involving the students, conventional learning methods seem sufficient and more efficient for mnemonic processing compared to new technologies
The role of crises in transformative change towards sustainability
No full textPath-breaking transformative change is needed in human-environment relations to move towards more sustainable development trajectories at local, national and global scales. Crises may trigger transformative change and learning in the short and in the long term. However, in particular, a short-term response to crises may also be reactive, strengthening established unsustainable practices and further perpetuating vulnerability and inequality rather than supporting transformative change towards a more sustainable path. To understand the nature and response to a crisis in the context of sustainability transformations, this paper elaborates on the following aspects of a crisis: What are the characteristics of a crisis? What and who shapes the narrative(s) of a crisis? What and who shapes the nature of the response to a crisis? Do responses to crises trigger higher levels of learning? Conceptual synthesis is complemented with an exploratory comparative analysis of the Cape Town water crisis and of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. To this end the paper analyzes the interplay between mobilizing individual, collective and relational agency and navigating and transforming power relations to challenge and profit from already weakened unsustainable structures. This approach proves to be promising to understand the role of crises in catalysing and supporting transformative learning to eventually replace unsustainable structures
Doubt, Uncertainty and Overestimation - relations between humans and machine agents in virtual reality experiments
Get PDFArtificial intelligence is becoming ubiquitous in our everyday lives with the emergence of powerful machine learning methods and the ever-increasing amount of available data. One can find "intelligent" machines in operating theaters, factories, in almost every pocket, and even space. The next milestone will be the fully autonomous vehicle. With this technology, artificial intelligence is not only an abstract term or bound to cyberspace; it is moving significantly closer to humans, functioning as a collaboration partner. Besides the remaining technical issues, autonomous robots raise questions on social, ethical, and legal issues that we have to evaluate to unleash the full potential of autonomous systems as artificial agents
Credit Beats Growth: Credit in Modern Capitalist Economy in Crisis
No full textFinance is increasingly dominating the entire economy and determining social life more and more. Credits expand our opportunities. They increase companies' return on investment significantly, expand states' and households' ability to spend far beyond their current income. The follow-up costs of credit financing weigh heavily on the economy and society. They can only be borne if there is sufficient future growth. The penetration of credit financing throughout the economy is so strong today that one can speak of a credit economy in a modern capitalist economy.
This credit economy is unstable and dependent on the support of the state. The instability became visible in the financial crisis of 2008. In it, central banks have set themselves de facto a new goal: financial stability. This has given rise to a state-supported credit economy. To ensure stability, central banks intervene massively in the financial market. As a result, credit is growing, but economic growth is lagging behind. This has serious consequences. The evolutionary balance between "credit" and "growth", on which society's confidence is based, is in danger.
It is not only the financial system that has changed; fundamental changes are on the horizon also in economic production. On the one hand, it must be more environmentally friendly, and on the other, it is becoming increasingly clear that the era of globalization is coming to an end. The world economy will enter into an international competitive struggle between different areas of value. Both transformations will be costly and will make production more expensive and increase the need for capital considerably. Accordingly, the evolutionary imbalance between credit and growth will rise.
This imbalance leads to a serious loss of trust in the foundation of the market economy. In order to secure trust and master the two upcoming transformations, the state, or more precisely the central bank, must also transform itself. The central bank can add a second orientation to its hitherto one-sided focus on the financial system by supporting the development of civil society. In doing so, it can use direct financial transactions to finance important civil society projects in a targeted manner without increasing the volume of credit. With better financial resources, citizens can dare more and thus contribute to growth in the long run. In this way, credit and growth can remain in balance even in a rapidly changing economy
Fostering collective action through participation in natural resource and environmental management: An integrative and interpretative narrative review using the IAD, NAS and SES frameworks
Get PDFSolving humanity's social-environmental challenges calls for collective action by relevant actors. Hence, involving these actors in the policy process has been deemed both necessary and promising. But how and to what extent can participatory policy interventions (PIs) foster collective action for sustainable environmental and natural resource management? Lab and lab-in-the-field experiments on co-operation in the context of collective action challenges (i.e. social dilemmas) and case study research on participatory processes both offer insights into this question but have hitherto mainly remained unconnected. This article reviews insights from these two streams of literature in tandem, synthesising and analysing them using the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework in combination with the network of action situations (NAS) framework and the social-ecological systems (SES) framework. We thus perform an integrative and interpretative narrative review to draw a richer and more nuanced picture of PIs: their potential impacts, their (institutional and behavioural) mechanisms and challenges, and caveats and recommendations for their design and implementation. Our review shows that PIs can indeed foster collective action by (a) helping the relevant actors craft suitable and legitimate institutional arrangements and (b) addressing and/or influencing actors' attributes of relevance to collective action, namely their individual and shared understandings, beliefs and preferences. To fulfil this potential, the organisers and sponsors of PIs must address and link to the broader context through soundly designed and implemented processes. Complementary follow-up, enforcement and conflict resolution mechanisms are necessary to nurture, reassure and sustain understandings, beliefs and preferences that undergird trust-building and collective action. The conceptual framework developed for the review can help researchers and practitioners further assess these insights, disentangle PIs' mechanisms and impacts, and integrate the research and practice of participatory governance and collective action
Transitzone
No full textHören sie den Begriff ‚Transitzone‘, denken wohl viele Menschen zunächst an Flugreisen, an das Warten im Boarding-Bereich und Duty-Free-Shopping. Seit den 1980er Jahren erlangte der ursprünglich in der Flughafen- und Verkehrsplanung beheimatete Begriff jedoch eine neue Bedeutung im Kontext von Flucht, Asyl und irregulärer Migration. In jenem Jahrzehnt landeten in steigender Zahl Flüchtende und undokumentierte Migrierende aus afrikanischen und asiatischen Ländern per Flugzeug in der Bundesrepublik und in Westeuropa. Am Flughafen angekommen, baten sie die Grenzpolizei um Asyl. Der Bundesgrenzschutz winkte sie allerdings nicht einfach durch, damit sie ein Asylverfahren im Landesinnern aufnehmen konnten. Vielmehr avancierten ‚Transitzonen‘ zu Grenzräumen und Filtern, in denen Asylsuchende vorkontrolliert, befragt, von den übrigen Reisenden separiert und in manchen Fällen zurückgewiesen werden konnten. Der Artikel zeigt, wie sich der Begriff ‚Transitzone‘ im Zuge dieser Entwicklung wandelte und wer ihn mit welcher Intention benutzte. Dadurch wird der Blick auf seine Politisierung frei: Der Begriff fand Eingang sowohl in die Asylpolitik als auch in kritische Gegendebatten. Bis heute steht er auf der einen Seite für migrationspolitische Kontrollutopien – konkret für die Idee einer Verlagerung von Asylverfahren an Grenzen – sowie auf der anderen Seite für die von Pro-Migrations-Gruppen befürchtete Aushebelung des Asylrechts
A holistic approach to artificial neural network models of language emergence and language acquisition - Case studies on pragmatic reasoning and language-perception interactions
Get PDFHumans interact with each other and with their environment. On the one hand, language is shaped by these interactions as we communicate about our experiences. On the other hand, language shapes these interactions as we use it to act in the world (by informing, requesting, promising, and so on). As a consequence, language is intertwined with many cognitive functions, such as perception, action, and social reasoning. To understand how language emerged and evolved, as well as how language is learned and used, it is important to take these connections into account. This thesis presents three case studies that investigate interfaces between language and other areas of cognition. The case studies use computational, agent-based models to study language acquisition and language emergence phenomena. We follow a long tradition of modeling interactive language use in the form of communication games. In all case studies, the agents play games that involve generating and/or interpreting references to objects, which is a simple but fundamental use of language. The agents are implemented as artificial neural networks. Artificial neural networks not only dominate machine learning research but are also popular as models of cognitive functions. We use the case studies to learn about cognitive mechanisms related to language as well as to suggest ways in which artificial neural networks may benefit from integrating such mechanisms. Case study 1 shows how reasoning about the speaker’s intention and the context can help children learn the meanings of new words. Case study 2 demonstrates how considerations about the context can lead to the emergence of object references at different levels of specificity (as in "Fido", "dalmatian", "dog'', "animal"). Case study 3 models aspects of the bidirectional influence between visual perception and (emergent) language. In general, I argue that the combination of communication games and artificial neural networks generates a versatile framework for studying language-cognition interfaces. A holistic approach to modeling language will increase our understanding of how humans learn and use language as well as our ability to emulate this behavior in machines
Insect-friendly harvest in hay meadows – Uncut refuges are of vital importance for conservation management
Get PDFWith ongoing industrialisation of farming practise, the area of species-rich temperate grasslands has strongly declined. Today, the remnants of these grasslands often suffer from habitat degradation due to unsuitable management. Here, we investigated the effects of the complete harvest process over the course of two harvest periods (mid-June and mid-August) on Orthoptera (hereinafter referred to as ‘grasshoppers’) in species-rich lowland hay meadows in southwestern Bavaria (Germany). We set up a randomised split-plot design including mown meadows (tractor-operated rotary-disc vs. double-bladed bar mower) and uncut refuges within grassland patches. Our study revealed that mower types did not differ in their effects on grasshopper mortality and that direct mortality through cutting was very low. By contrast, after mowing, on average 85–91 % of the individuals or biomass was lost by the end of the harvest process. However, in uncut refuges, grasshopper densities and biomass increased on average by 234–328 %. From the first to the second harvest period, an alignment in grasshopper densities and biomass between meadows and uncut refuges occurred. We explain the lack of direct cutting effects by the tall and dense vegetation of the hay meadows and, hence, the location of the grasshoppers far above the sphere of the mowers. Moreover, we assume that in particular emigration from the short and homogeneous meadows to uncut refuges or patch edges but also increased vertebrate predation were responsible for the severe grasshopper losses. Moreover, we hypothesise that grasshopper recolonization from the refuges to the meadows strongly contributed to the alignment in grasshopper densities from mid-June to mid-August. Hence, to protect abundant grasshopper populations in meadows in the long run, uncut refuges are of prime importance. Firstly, such refuges guarantee a continuity in (i) food resources, (ii) a balanced microclimate and (iii) shelter against predators and extreme weather events for the resident individuals. Consequently, they are not affected by any of the harvest-related losses. Secondly, they serve as an important refuge for the emigrants from the mown parts of the meadow
Anfangs nur eine Handvoll alter Briefe … Spuren der Familie des Gymnasialprofessors Heinrich Oelker in Lingen, Aurich und Osnabrück
Get PDFUntersuchung eines Briefkonvoluts aus der Familie des Gymnasialprofessors H. Oelker (1853-1917) mit Illustrationen, Verzeichnis der Archivalien sowie ausgewählten Transkriptione
Verbraucherschutz bei Hypothekendarlehen in Spanien und Deutschland
No full textDiese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Frage, wie die spanische und deutsche Rechtsordnung Verbraucher im Rahmen von Hypothekendarlehensverträgen schützen. Hypothekendarlehen zur Finanzierung des Eigenheims sind seit jeher die klassische Form und Paradebeispiel für einen langfristigen Kredit. Die 2007 einsetzende Finanzkrise hat Spanien und spanische Haushalte besonders stark getroffen. Sie führte zu einem drastischen Anstieg an Zwangsvollstreckungen und Zwangsräumungen, begleitet von gesellschaftlichen Protesten und zahlreichen Gesetzesreformen. Die vorliegende Arbeit nimmt dies zum Anlass, um ausgewählte Teile des Immobiliarkreditrechts in Spanien - insbesondere seine Entwicklung seit der Finanzkrise - näher zu beleuchten und an zentralen Stellen mit den deutschen Regelungen zu vergleichen. Dabei wird insbesondere der Einfluss des EuGH und des spanischen Tribunal Supremo auf die spanische Rechtsentwicklung in den Blick genommen