Showing papers by "Webster University Vienna published in 2018"

Integrating techno-economic, socio-technical and political perspectives on national energy transitions: A meta-theoretical framework

Abstract: Economic development, technological innovation, and policy change are especially prominent factors shaping energy transitions. Therefore explaining energy transitions requires combining insights from disciplines investigating these factors. The existing literature is not consistent in identifying these disciplines nor proposing how they can be combined. We conceptualize national energy transitions as a co-evolution of three types of systems: energy flows and markets, energy technologies, and energy-related policies. The focus on the three types of systems gives rise to three perspectives on national energy transitions: techno-economic with its roots in energy systems analysis and various domains of economics; socio-technical with its roots in sociology of technology, STS, and evolutionary economics; and political with its roots in political science. We use the three perspectives as an organizing principle to propose a meta-theoretical framework for analyzing national energy transitions. Following Elinor Ostrom's approach, the proposed framework explains national energy transitions through a nested conceptual map of variables and theories. In comparison with the existing meta-theoretical literature, the three perspectives framework elevates the role of political science since policies are likely to be increasingly prominent in shaping 21st century energy transitions.

Capturing Aesthetic Experiences With Installation Art: An Empirical Assessment of Emotion, Evaluations, and Mobile Eye Tracking in Olafur Eliasson's "Baroque, Baroque!"

Abstract: Installation art is one of the most important and provocative developments in the visual arts during the last half century and has become a key focus of artists and of contemporary museums. It is also seen as particularly challenging or even disliked by many viewers, and-due to its unique in situ, immersive setting-is equally regarded as difficult or even beyond the grasp of present methods in empirical aesthetic psychology. In this paper, we introduce an exploratory study with installation art, utilizing a collection of techniques to capture the eclectic, the embodied, and often the emotionally-charged viewing experience. We present results from an investigation of two pieces, both part of Olafur Eliasson's exhibition "Baroque, Baroque" held at the Belvedere museum in Vienna. These were assessed by pre- and post-viewing questionnaires focusing on emotion, meaning-making, and appraisals, in tandem with mobile eye tracking to consider viewers' attention to both installed artworks and/or to the museum environment. The data showed differences in participants' emotional states, appraisals, and visual exploration, which together paint a picture of the aesthetic reactions to the works. These differences also showed how viewers' appraisal strategies, meaning making, and physical actions facilitated relatively more or less deep engagement with, and enjoyment of, the art. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for museum studies, art education, and theory in empirical aesthetics.

A systematic scoping review of psychological therapies for psychosis within acute psychiatric in-patient settings

Abstract: BACKGROUND People with psychotic disorders account for most acute admissions to psychiatric wards. Psychological therapies are a treatment adjunct to standard medication and nursing care, but the evidence base for such therapies within in-patient settings is unclear.AimsTo conduct a systematic scoping review of the current evidence base for psychological therapies for psychosis delivered within acute in-patient settings (PROSPERO: CRD42015025623). METHOD All study designs, and therapy models, were eligible for inclusion in the review. We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, EThOS, ProQuest, conference abstracts and trial registries. RESULTS We found 65 studies that met criteria for inclusion in the review, 21 of which were randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The majority of studies evaluated cognitive-behavioural interventions. Quality was variable across all study types. The RCTs were mostly small (n<25 in the treatment arm), and many had methodological limitations including poorly described randomisation methods, inadequate allocation concealment and non-masked outcome assessments. We found studies used a wide range of different outcome measures, and relatively few studies reported affective symptoms or recovery-based outcomes. Many studies described adaptations to treatment delivery within in-patient settings, including increased frequency of sessions, briefer interventions and use of single-session formats. CONCLUSIONS Based on these findings, there is a clear need to improve methodological rigour within in-patient research. Interpretation of the current evidence base is challenging given the wide range of different therapies, outcome measures and models of delivery described in the literature.Declaration of interestNone.

Personality functioning in anxiety disorders

Abstract: The Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders as well as the upcoming IDC-11 have established a new focus on diagnosing personality disorders (PD): personality functioning An impairment of self and interpersonal functioning in these models represents a general diagnostic criterion for a personality disorder Little is known so far about the impairment of personality functioning in patients with other mental disorders than PD This study aims to assess personality functioning in patients with anxiety disorders Ninety-seven patients with the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or phobia, and 16 healthy control persons were diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I and -II) and were assessed by means of the Structured Interview for Personality Organization (STIPO) to determine the level of personality functioning While all three patient groups showed significant impairment in personality functioning compared to the control group, no significant differences were observed between the different patient groups In all three groups of anxiety disorders patients with comorbid PD showed significantly worse personality functioning than patients without Patients without comorbid PD also yielded a significant impairment in their personality functioning when compared to the control group Anxiety disorders are associated with a significant impairment in personality functioning, which is significantly increased by comorbid PD There are no differences in terms of personality functioning between patients with different anxiety disorders

Editorial: The Janus Face of Language: Where Are the Emotions in Words and Where Are the Words in Emotions?

Abstract: Department of Applied Emotion and Motivation Research, Institute of Psychology and Education, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, Department for Biomedical Resonance, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, 4 LEAD Graduate School, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany, Cognitive Neuroscience & Behaviour Lab (CanBeLab), Department of Psychology, Webster Vienna Private University, Vienna, Austria, 6 School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia, 7 Faculty of Psychology, Vienna University, Vienna, Austria, Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Affective Processing Guides Behavior and Emotions Communicate Feelings: Towards a Guideline for the NeuroIS Community

Abstract: Like most researchers from other disciplines the NeuroIS community too faces the problem of interchangeable terminology regarding emotion-related aspects of their work. This article aims at solving this issue by clearly distinguishing between emotion, feeling and affective processing and by offering clear definitions. Numerous prior attempts to agree on only an emotion definition alone have failed, even in the emotion research community itself. A further still widely neglected problem is that language as a cognitive cortical function has no access to subcortical affective processing, which forms the basis for both feelings and emotions. Thus, any survey question about anything emotional cannot be answered properly. This is why it is particularly important to complement self-report data with objective measures whenever emotion-related processes are of interest. While highlighting that cognitive processing (e.g. language) is separate from affective processing, the present paper proposes a brain function model as a basis to understand that subcortical affective processing (i.e. neural activity) guides human behavior, while feelings are consciously felt bodily responses that can arise from suprathreshold affective processing and that are communicated to others via emotions (behavioral output). To provide an exemplary consequence, according to this model fear is not an emotion, but a feeling. The respective emotion is a scared face plus other behavioral responses that show an observer that one feels fear as a result of affective processing. A growing body of literature within and outside the NeuroIS community began to reveal that cognitive, explicit responses (self-report) to emotion stimuli often deviate from implicit affective neural activity that can only be accessed via objective technology. This paper has the potential to facilitate future NeuroIS research as well as to provide an innovative understanding of emotion for the entire science community.

Time-varying correlations between trade balance and stock prices in the United States over the period 1792 to 2013

Abstract: The relationship between stock prices and the trade balance can be either negative or positive, depending on the signs of the wealth effect channel and the exchange rate channel. While previous studies examined this relationship in a time-invariant framework, we employ a time-varying approach so as to examine the dynamic correlations of trade balance and stock prices in the United States over the period 1792–2013. The results of our empirical analysis, which remain robust to alternative specifications, reveal that correlations between the trade balance and stock prices in the United States are indeed not constant, but evolve heterogeneously overtime. In particular, the correlations are, in general, significantly positive between 1800 and 1870, while significantly negative thereafter. The policy implications of these findings are then discussed.