Danube University Krems

About: Danube University Krems is a education organization based out in Krems, Niederösterreich, Austria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Stroke & Population. The organization has 498 authors who have published 1572 publications receiving 68797 citations.

The Arts of the Possible. Information Visualization in the Field of Politics.

Abstract: Information visualization offers multiple methods to make sense of complex data by graphic representations. Complementing verbal representations, they show rich potential to support cognition and communication in numerous areas of application, including the field of political communication and education. Yet – despite a strong increase in options with regard to accessibility of data, tools, and methods – no conceptual framework or discussion is organizing these emerging visual vocabularies and their possible recombinations up to now. Against this background, we want to discuss the layout principles of existing visualization methods and align them within a coherent framework to allow for a multimodal navigation of modern news and information spaces. On that basis, accompanying ways and means to minimize well-known barriers in the public and political communication realm are taken into consideration.

Combining abbreviated literature searches with single-reviewer screening: three case studies of rapid reviews

Abstract: Decision-makers increasingly request rapid answers to clinical or public health questions. To save time, personnel, and financial resources, rapid reviews streamline the methodological steps of the systematic review process. We aimed to explore the validity of a rapid review approach that combines a substantially abbreviated literature search with a single-reviewer screening of abstracts and full texts using three case studies. We used a convenience sample of three ongoing Cochrane reviews as reference standards. Two reviews addressed oncological topics and one addressed a public health topic. For each of the three topics, three reviewers screened the literature independently. Our primary outcome was the change in conclusions between the rapid reviews and the respective Cochrane reviews. In case the rapid approach missed studies, we recalculated the meta-analyses for the main outcomes and asked Cochrane review authors if the new body of evidence would change their original conclusion compared with the reference standards. Additionally, we assessed the sensitivity of the rapid review approach compared with the results of the original Cochrane reviews. For the two oncological topics (case studies 1 and 2), the three rapid reviews each yielded the same conclusions as the Cochrane reviews. However, the authors would have had less certainty about their conclusion in case study 2. For case study 3, the public health topic, only one of the three rapid reviews led to the same conclusion as the Cochrane review. The other two rapid reviews provided insufficient information for the authors to draw conclusions. Using the rapid review approach, the sensitivity was 100% (3 of 3) for case study 1. For case study 2, the three rapid reviews identified 40% (4 of 10), 50% (5 of 10), and 60% (6 of 10) of the included studies, respectively; for case study 3, the respective numbers were 38% (8 of 21), 43% (9 of 21), and 48% (10 of 21). Within the limitations of these case studies, a rapid review approach that combines abbreviated literature searches with single-reviewer screening may be feasible for focused clinical questions. For complex public health topics, sensitivity seems to be insufficient.

Endangering the integrity of science by misusing unvalidated models and untested assumptions as facts: General considerations and the mineral and phosphorus scarcity fallacy

Abstract: There is increasing demand for science to contribute to solving societal problems (solutionism). Thereby, scientists may become normative activists for solving certain problems (advocacy). When doing this, they may insufficiently differentiate between scientific and political modes of reasoning and validation (de-differentiationism), which is sometimes linked to questionable forms of utilizing the force of facts (German: Faktengewalt). Scientific findings are simplified and communicated in such a way that they acquire a status as unfalsifiable and absolutely true (truth to power). This becomes critical if the consistency and validation of the findings are questionable and scientific models underlying science activists’ actions are doubtful, oversimplified, or incorrect. Herein, we exemplarily elaborate how the integrity of science is endangered by normative solutionist and sociopolitically driven transition management and present mineral scarcity claims that ignore that reserves or resources are dynamic geotechnological-socioeconomic entities. We present the main mineral scarcity models and their fallacious assumptions. We then discuss the phosphorus scarcity fallacy, which is of particular interest as phosphorus is non-substitutable and half of all current food production depends on fertilizers (and thus phosphorus). We show that phosphorus scarcity claims are based on integrating basic geoeconomic knowledge and discuss cognitive and epistemological barriers and motivational and sociopolitical drivers promoting the scarcity fallacy, which affects high-level public media. This may induce unsustainable environmental action. Scientists as honest knowledge brokers should communicate the strengths but also the constraints and limits of scientific modeling and of applying it in reality.

Compound-specific stable hydrogen isotope (δ2H) analyses of fatty acids: A new method and perspectives for trophic and movement ecology

Abstract: RATIONALE Compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) is a powerful tool for a better understanding of trophic transfer of dietary molecules in and across ecosystems Hydrogen isotope values (δ2 H) in consumer tissues have potential to more clearly distinguish dietary sources than 13 C or 15 N values within and among habitats, but have not been used at the fatty acid level for ecological purposes METHODS Here we demonstrate a new online high-capacity gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry technique (2 H-CSIA) that offers accurate and reproducible determination of δ2 H values for a range of fatty acids from organisms of aquatic food webs RESULTS We show that lipid extracts obtained from aquatic sources, such as biofilms, leaves, invertebrates, or fish muscle tissue, have distinctive δ2 H values that can be used to assess sources and trophic interactions, as well as dietary allocation and origin of fatty acids within consumer tissue CONCLUSIONS The new 2 H-CSIA method can be applied to evaluate sources and trophic dynamics of fatty acids in organisms ranging from food web ecology to migratory connectivity