This contributed book contains the short papers presented at the 1st International Conference on Hybrid Societies 2023. Organized by the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre 'Hybrid Societies' at Chemnitz University of Technology.:Flourishing from, for, and with Social Machines: Considering the Eudaimonics of Hybrid Societies - Banks J. How do vehicle size, speed, TTC, age and sex affect cyclists’ gap acceptance when interacting with (automated) vehicles? - Springer-Teumer S., Trommler D., Krems J.F. Assessing Driver Uncertainty Respecting Response Actions in Lane Change Maneuvers (...) - Yan F., Eilers M., Baumann M. Using Functionally Anthropomorphic Eyes to Indicate Robotic Motion - Schweidler P. & Onnasch L. Living Labs as Third Spaces: Low-threshold participation, empowering hospitality, and the social infrastructures of continuous presence - Pentzold C., Rothe I., Bischof A. Artificial Morality - Armbruster D., Mandl S., Strobel A. Reducing Prejudice via Virtual Reality: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Evidence - Stein J.-P., Gnambs T., Appel M. Policy Learning with Spiking Neural Network for Robot Manipulation Tasks - Abdelaal O. M. & Röhrbein F. (shrink)

The usage of “green” hydrogen as a sustainable alternative to empower vehicles is a promising option for the strongly required reduction of CO2-emissions in the transport sector. For the successful introduction of such new technology, user acceptance is known to be one crucial factor. The presented online survey investigated potential barriers and drivers for the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles and the effect of prior knowledge about FCEVs. Generally, respondents reported aspects connected to environmental friendliness to be main drivers (...) and infrastructural factors as main barriers connected with FCEVs independently from prior knowledge. Besides, results revealed considerable differences between participants with little vs. considerable prior knowledge implying a negative effect of less knowledge in terms of more skeptical assessments. Hence, measures enhancing knowledge about and experience with FCEVs might positively affect perceived barriers and drivers of FCEVs. (shrink)

Transcripted by Felix Bielefeld, and Ringo Rösener, 2020.

In spite of its authority to claim facts, law is by no means neutral. Deeply imbued with economic and ideological interests, opportunistic goals and hidden motives, its function to guarantee political autonomy has been deeply compromised. This observation, systematically explored in Critical Legal Studies, is the point of departure for this essay. In asking how political autonomy may be achieved, it puts forward an understanding of autonomy along three conceptual distinctions. As self-governance of the individual and the community, as self-governance (...) bereft of external and internal constraints, and self-governance as the absence of constraints and the capacity to exercise governance. The main argument is that critique is not only the prerequisite but also the essence of political autonomy. In discussing four authors that have vitally contributed to the enterprise of the critique of law it attempts to disentangle the ways in which critique is essential for disposing of self-instituting capacity. I propose a reading that does not engage with the differences between their theories but stresses their commonality. While distinct in their analysis of the constraints responsible for the lack of political autonomy, their desire for the individual’s liberation of forces provides a common ground. Therefore, their critique can be understood as an enterprise deeply indebted to Kant. Not as a rejection of Enlightenment but as an effort to transform it from within. (shrink)

Driving comfort is considered a key factor for broad public acceptance of automated driving. Based on continuous driver/passenger monitoring, potential discomfort could be avoided by adapting automation features such as the driving style. The EU-project MEDIATOR aims at developing a mediating system in automated vehicles by constantly evaluating the performance of driver and automation. As facial expressions could be an indicator of discomfort, a driving simulator study has been carried out to investigate this relationship. A total of 41 participants experienced (...) three potentially uncomfortable automated approach situations to a truck driving ahead. The face video of four cameras was analyzed with the Visage facial feature detection and face analysis software, extracting 23 Action Units. Situation-specific effects showed that the eyes were kept open and eye blinks were reduced. Inner brows as well as upper lids raised, indicating surprise. Lips were pressed and stretched as sign for tension. Overall, facial expression analysis could contribute to detect discomfort in automated driving. (shrink)

This paper demonstrates the relevance of Vilém Flusser’s concept of post-industrial apparatus in contemporary programmed media theory, as represented in the paper by software studies. Examples of software art projects that investigate the limits of apparatus programmability are introduced as examples of artistic gestures of freedom. The interpretation is supported by references to the general theory of gesture proposed by Flusser. The paper suggests that this new interpretative method, described by the author as a discipline for the ‘new people’ of (...) the future can serve alongside software studies as an appropriate theory of software art, understood as gestures of freedom within the apparatus of programmed media. (shrink)

Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease with an increasing prevalence in the elderly population. There is conflicting opinion about whether osteoporosis affects the alveolar bone of the jaws and whether it poses a risk to the osseointegration of dental implants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of systemic glucocorticoid administration on the jaw bone density of minipigs. Thirty-seven adult female minipigs were randomly divided into two groups. Quantitative computed tomography was used to assess bone mineral (...) density BMD of the lumbar spine as well as the mandible and maxilla, and blood was drawn. One group of minipigs initially received 1.0 mg prednisolone per kg body weight daily for 2 months. The dose was tapered to 0.5 mg per kg body weight per day thereafter. The animals in the other group served as controls and received placebo. QCT and blood analysis were repeated after 6 and 9 months. BMD was compared between the two groups by measuring Hounsfield units, and serum levels of several bone metabolic markers were also assessed. A decrease in BMD was observed in the jaws from baseline to 9 months. This was more pronounced in the prednisolone group. Statistically significant differences were reached for the mandible and the maxilla. The administration of glucocorticoids reduced the BMD in the jaws of minipigs. The described model shows promise in the evaluation of osseointegration of dental implants in bone that is compromised by osteoporosis. (shrink)

There have recently been considerable advances in our understanding of the neuronal mechanisms underlying multitasking, but the role of multimodal integration for this faculty has remained rather unclear. We examined this issue by comparing different modality combinations in a multitasking paradigm. In-depth neurophysiological analyses of event-related potentials were conducted to complement the obtained behavioral data. Specifically, we applied signal decomposition using second order blind identification to the multi-subject ERP data and source localization. We found that both general multimodal information integration (...) and modality-specific aspects modulate behavioral performance and associated neurophysiological correlates. Simultaneous multimodal input generally increased early attentional processing of visual stimuli as well as measures of cognitive effort and conflict. Yet, tactile-visual input caused larger impairments in multitasking than audio-visual input. General aspects of multimodal information integration modulated the activity in the premotor cortex as well as different visual association areas concerned with the integration of visual information with input from other modalities. On top of this, differences in the specific combination of modalities also affected performance and measures of conflict/effort originating in prefrontal regions. (shrink)

Soil nematodes play an important role in indication for assessing soil environments and ecosystems. Previous studies of nematode community analyses based on molecular identification have shown to be useful for assessing soil environments. Here we applied PCR-DGGE method for molecular analysis of five soil nematode communities collected from four provinces in Southeastern Vietnam based on SSU gene. By sequencing DNA bands derived from S5 community sample, our data show 15 species containing soil nematode, other nematode and non-nematode species. Genus Meloidogyne (...) was found as abundant one. The genetic relationship of soil nematode species in S5 community were determined by Maximum Likelihood tree re-construction based on SSU gene. This molecular approach is applied for the first time in Vietnam for identification of soil nematode communities. (shrink)

This thesis aimed at examining the impact of decorative pictures, defined as pictures which make an instructional material aesthetically appealing rather than conveying information for learning. In research, the use of decorative pictures was considered to be detrimental for learning for a long time. In contrast, recent research revealed that the impact of these pictures is moderated by a number of variables. In a series of experiments which were based on cognitive-affective theories of learning with media, a selected number of (...) theoretically derived moderators were examined in a series of experiments. A first experiment investigat-ed the effectiveness of different levels of emotional charge and the impact of different contexts shown in decorative pictures. Results showed that learning performance was higher for positive than negative pictures, while the measured pleasure of students mediated this effect. Decorative pictures showing a learning context were also found to enhance learning while the students’ assessments of arousal and dominance were raised for these pictures. In a second experiment, design features of anthropomorphism, defined as features which elicit the tendency to attribute human characteristics to non-human objects, were implemented in decorative pictures. Based on a two-factorial design with the inclusion of human faces and personalized labels, both human faces and personalized labels were found to foster learning. In comparison to a control group without decorative pictures, the inclusion of both mentioned anthropomorphic features in decorative pictures led to a higher learning performance. In contrast, decorative pictures without anthropomorphic features decreased learning. Both features additionally enhanced the mental effort and intrinsic motivation of students, although a task-irrelevant cognitive load was increased by the inclusion of decorative pictures. The emotional charge and the degree of text-picture connectedness of decorative pictures were additionally examined in three other experiments. Moreover, these groups were compared with an additional control group without decorative pictures. All three experiments revealed that decorative pictures with a strong connection to the learning topic of a text and a positive charge increased learning. In comparison with the control group, positive, strongly connected pictures mainly enhanced and negative, weakly connected pictures mainly impaired learning. Results can be explained by significant differences among the assessment of cognitive processes of learners. In conclusion, decorative pictures may be used in order to enrich an instructional material if boundary conditions like the context-relatedness, the degree of anthropomorphism, the text-picture connectedness, and the emotional charge are taken into account. (shrink)

In the colon, a sophisticated balance between immune reaction and tolerance is absolutely required. Dysfunction may lead to pathologic phenotypes ranging from chronic inflammatory processes to cancer development. Two prominent modulators of colon inflammation are represented by the closely related cytokines interleukin -12 and IL-23, which initiate adaptive Th1 and Th17 immune responses, respectively. In this study, we investigated the impact of the NADPH oxidase protein p47phox, which negatively regulates IL-12 in dendritic cells, on colon cancer development in a colitis-associated (...) colon cancer model. Initially, we found that IL-12−/− mice developed less severe colitis but are highly susceptible to colon cancer. By contrast, p47phox−/− mice showed lower tumor scores and fewer high grade tumors than wild-type littermates. Treatment with toll-like receptor 9 ligand CpG2216 significantly enhanced colitis in p47phox−/− mice, whereas tumor growth was simultaneously reduced. In tumor tissue of p47phox−/− mice, the IL-23/IL-17 axis was crucially hampered. IL-23p19 protein expression in tumor tissue correlated with tumor stage. Reconstitution of WT mice with IL-23p19−/− bone marrow protected these mice from colon cancer, whereas transplantation of WT hematopoiesis into IL-23p19−/− mice increased the susceptibility to tumor growth. Our study strengthens the divergent role of IL-12 and IL-23 in colon cancer development. With the characterization of p47phox as a novel modulator of both cytokines our investigation introduces a promising new target for antitumor strategies. (shrink)

This paper reports a novel and remarkably facile approach towards vertically aligned nanosheets on three-dimensional Ni foams. Conducting polypyrrole sheets were grown on Ni foam through the volatilization of the environmentally friendly solvent from an ethanol–water solution of pyrrole, followed by the polymerization of the coated Py in ammonium persulfate solution. The PPy-decorated Ni foams and commercial activated carbon modified Ni foams were employed as the two electrodes for the assembly of flexible all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors. The sheet-like structure of PPy (...) and the macroporous feature of the Ni foam, which render large electrode–electrolyte interfaces, resulted in good capacitive performance of the supercapacitors. Moreover, a high energy density of ca. 14 Wh kg−1 and a high power density of 6.2 kW kg−1 were achieved for the all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors due to the wide cell voltage window. (shrink)

Executive functions, like the capacity to control and organize thoughts and behavior, develop from childhood to young adulthood. Although task switching and working memory processes are known to undergo strong developmental changes from childhood to adulthood, it is currently unknown how task switching processes are modulated between childhood and adulthood given that working memory processes are central to task switching. The aim of the current study is therefore to examine this question using a combined cue- and memory-based task switching paradigm (...) in children and young adults in combination with neurophysiological methods. We obtained an unexpected paradoxical effect suggesting that memory-based task switching is better in late childhood than in young adulthood. No group differences were observed in cue-based task switching. The neurophysiological data suggest that this effect is not due to altered attentional selection or processes related to the updating, organization, and implementation of the new task-set. Instead, alterations were found in the resolution of task-set conflict and the selection of an appropriate response when a task has to be switched. Our observation contrasts findings showing that cognitive control mechanisms reach their optimal functioning in early adulthood. (shrink)

The Kinaesthetics care conception is a nursing approach for patient handling which aims to prevent work-related complaints and diseases. The evidence about the influence of Kinaesthetics on musculoskeletal disorders among persons who handle patients is unclear to date. The purposes of the scoping review are to gain insight into the current state of research regarding the clinical effectiveness of Kinaesthetics among persons who handle patients and to identify potential research gaps. A scoping review was conducted. The search strategy comprised a (...) systematic search in electronic databases, a hand search, a fast forward search and a Google scholar-search. The review process was carried out independently by two reviewers. Methodological quality was assessed for all studies using three methodological main categories. Thirteen studies with different study designs were included. Seven studies investigated musculoskeletal complaints and nine studies the perceived exertion of nursing staff. Most studies were of very low methodology. Most studies reported a decrease of musculoskeletal complaints and perceived exertion due to Kinaesthetics. In conclusion, there is only little evidence of very low quality about the effectiveness of Kinaesthetics. Out of the studies it could be assumed that Kinaesthetics may decrease the patient handling related perceived exertion and musculoskeletal pain of persons who handle patients. But an overestimation of these results is likely, due to inadequate methodology of included studies. As a result, no clear recommendations about the effectiveness of the Kinaesthetics care conception can be made yet. Since a research gap was shown, further high quality intervention studies are necessary for clarifying the effectiveness of Kinaesthetics. (shrink)

Graphs are used to model a wide range of systems from different disciplines including social network analysis, biology, and big data processing. When analyzing these constantly changing dynamic graphs at a high frequency, performance is the main concern. Depending on the graph size and structure, update frequency, and read accesses of the analysis, the use of different data structures can yield great performance variations. Even for expert programmers, it is not always obvious, which data structure is the best choice for (...) a given scenario. In previous work, we presented an approach for handling the selection of the most efficient data structures automatically using a compile-time approach well-suited for constant workloads. We extend this work with a measurement study of seven data structures and use the results to fit actual cost estimation functions. In addition, we evaluate our approach for the computations of seven different graph metrics. In analyses of real-world dynamic graphs with a constant workload, our approach achieves a speedup of up to 5.4× compared to basic data structure configurations. Such a compile-time based approach cannot yield optimal results when the behavior of the system changes later and the workload becomes non-constant. To close this gap we present a run-time approach which provides live profiling and facilitates automatic exchanges of data structures during execution. We analyze the performance of this approach using an artificial, non-constant workload where our approach achieves speedups of up to 7.3× compared to basic configurations. (shrink)

Aims To estimate the national incidence rate and trend of type 1 diabetes in Germany from 1999 to 2008 and the national prevalence in 2008 in the age group 0–14 years. Methods Data were taken from a nationwide registry for incident cases of T1DM in the ages 0–4 years and 3 regional registries for incident cases of T1DM in the ages 0–14 years covering 41% of the child population in Germany. The degree of ascertainment was ≥ 97% in all registries. (...) Incident and prevalent cases were grouped by region, sex, age, and, for incident data, additionally by two 5-year periods. Poisson regression models were fitted to the data to derive national estimates of incidence rate trends and prevalence in the age groups 5–9, 10–14 and 0–14 years. We used direct age-standardization. Results The estimated national incidence rate in 0-14-year-olds increased significantly by 18.1% from 1999–2003 to 2004–2008, independent of sex, corresponding to an average annual increase of 3.4%. The overall incidence rate was estimated at 22.9 per 100,000 person-years and we identified a within-country west-east-gradient previously unknown. The national prevalence in the ages 0–14 years on 31/12/2008 was estimated to be 148.1 per 100,000 persons. Conclusions The national incidence rate of childhood T1DM in Germany is higher than in many other countries around the world. Importantly, the estimated trend of the incidence rate confirms the international data of a global increase of T1DM incidences. (shrink)

Human cells from acute myeloid leukemia patients are frequently transplanted into immune-compromised mouse strains to provide an in vivo environment for studies on the biology of the disease. Since frequencies of leukemia re-initiating cells are low and a unique cell surface phenotype that includes all tumor re-initiating activity remains unknown, the underlying mechanisms leading to limitations in the xenotransplantation assay need to be understood and overcome to obtain robust engraftment of AML-containing samples. We report here that in the NSG xenotransplantation (...) assay, the large majority of mononucleated cells from patients with AML fail to establish a reproducible myeloid engraftment despite high donor chimerism. Instead, donor-derived cells mainly consist of polyclonal disease-unrelated expanded co-transplanted human T lymphocytes that induce xenogeneic graft versus host disease and mask the engraftment of human AML in mice. Engraftment of mainly myeloid cell types can be enforced by the prevention of T cell expansion through the depletion of lymphocytes from the graft prior transplantation. (shrink)

BACKGROUND: Ontologies play a major role in life sciences, enabling a number of applications, from new data integration to knowledge verification. SNOMED CT is a large medical ontology that is formally defined so that it ensures global consistency and support of complex reasoning tasks. Most biomedical ontologies and taxonomies on the other hand define concepts only textually, without the use of logic. Here, we investigate how to automatically generate formal concept definitions from textual ones. We develop a method that uses (...) machine learning in combination with several types of lexical and semantic features and outputs formal definitions that follow the structure of SNOMED CT concept definitions. RESULTS: We evaluate our method on three benchmarks and test both the underlying relation extraction component as well as the overall quality of output concept definitions. In addition, we provide an analysis on the following aspects: How do definitions mined from the Web and literature differ from the ones mined from manually created definitions, e.g., MeSH? How do different feature representations, e.g., the restrictions of relations' domain and range, impact on the generated definition quality?, How do different machine learning algorithms compare to each other for the task of formal definition generation?, and, What is the influence of the learning data size to the task? We discuss all of these settings in detail and show that the suggested approach can achieve success rates of over 90%. In addition, the results show that the choice of corpora, lexical features, learning algorithm and data size do not impact the performance as strongly as semantic types do. Semantic types limit the domain and range of a predicted relation, and as long as relations' domain and range pairs do not overlap, this information is most valuable in formalizing textual definitions. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis presented in this manuscript implies that automated methods can provide a valuable contribution to the formalization of biomedical knowledge, thus paving the way for future applications that go beyond retrieval and into complex reasoning. The method is implemented and accessible to the public from: https://github.com/alifahsyamsiyah/learningDL. (shrink)

RNA processing events that take place on the transcribed pre-mRNA include capping, splicing, editing, 3′ processing, and polyadenylation. Most of these processes occur co-transcriptionally while the RNA polymerase II enzyme is engaged in transcriptional elongation. How Pol II elongation rates are influenced by splicing is not well understood. We generated a family of inducible gene constructs containing increasing numbers of introns and exons, which were stably integrated in human cells to serve as actively transcribing gene loci. By monitoring the association (...) of the transcription and splicing machineries on these genes in vivo, we showed that only U1 snRNP localized to the intronless gene, consistent with a splicing-independent role for U1 snRNP in transcription. In contrast, all snRNPs accumulated on intron-containing genes, and increasing the number of introns increased the amount of spliceosome components recruited. This indicates that nascent RNA can assemble multiple spliceosomes simultaneously. Kinetic measurements of Pol II elongation in vivo, Pol II ChIP, as well as use of Spliceostatin and Meayamycin splicing inhibitors showed that polymerase elongation rates were uncoupled from ongoing splicing. This study shows that transcription elongation kinetics proceed independently of splicing at the model genes studied here. Surprisingly, retention of polyadenylated mRNA was detected at the transcription site after transcription termination. This suggests that the polymerase is released from chromatin prior to the completion of splicing, and the pre-mRNA is post-transcriptionally processed while still tethered to chromatin near the gene end. (shrink)

Intellectual activities seek understanding the way pirates capture booty. It is all about pulling up alongside, finding and holding the rhythm of the other vessel, fixing the grappling hooks in order to board and to appropriate. This is not the way understanding is usually depicted, even if appropriation is its intended aim. Philisophers in particular characterise understanding more gently, as a kind of welcoming of distant truth, held out to the foreign past. However, gentleness is an illusion in hermeneutic thought, (...) philosophical or ethnological, as I wish to show in reflection on \"dialogue\" and \"story\" as two major intellectial grappling hooks. (shrink)