An Annotation Workbench for Semantic Annotation of Data Collection Instruments.

Semantic interoperability, i.e., the ability to automatically interpret the shared information in a meaningful way, is one of the most important requirements for data analysis of different sources. In the area of clinical and epidemiological studies, the target of the National Research Data Infrastructure for Personal Health Data (NFDI4Health), interoperability of data collection instruments such as case report forms (CRFs), data dictionaries and questionnaires is critical. Retrospective integration of semantic codes into study metadata at item-level is important, as ongoing or completed studies contain valuable information, which should be preserved. We present a first version of a Metadata Annotation Workbench to support annotators in dealing with a variety of complex terminologies and ontologies. User-driven development with users from the fields of nutritional epidemiology and chronic diseases ensured that the service fulfills the basic requirements for a semantic metadata annotation software for these NFDI4Health use cases. The web application can be accessed using a web browser and the source code of the software is available with an open-source MIT license.

Personality processes of everyday moral courage.

INTRODUCTION: Moral courage manifests in acts intended to intervene to stop or redress witnessed moral norm violations, despite the risk of negative consequences for the intervener. We investigate moral courage in everyday life and ask what personality processes are involved. Based on an extended process model of moral courage, we derived hypotheses on cognitive and emotional processes that should facilitate or hinder intervention. Further, we identified candidate personality dispositions that should shape these processes and thereby predict who tends to intervene against others' norm violations and who does not. METHODS: Using a quota-based sample of the German population (N = 1108), we conducted a personality assessment, followed by a 7-day experience sampling during which participants reported norm violations witnessed in their daily life as well as their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions. RESULTS: In total, 678 participants reported 1965 norm violations and intervened against 32% of them. Dispositional self-efficacy facilitated intervention by increasing a sense of efficacy when confronted with others' norm violations. Conversely, dispositional moral disengagement hindered intervention by reducing perceived own responsibility. DISCUSSION: Our findings provide novel insights into the situations affording moral courage in everyday life, and the personality processes that uniquely guide this behavior.

"Proof Under Reasonable Doubt": Ambiguity of the Norm Violation as Boundary Condition of Third-Party Punishment.

In six studies, we consistently observed costly third-party punishment (3PP) to decrease under ambiguity of the norm violation. Our research suggests that, under ambiguity, some people experience concerns about punishing unfairly. Those with higher (vs. lower) other-oriented justice sensitivity (Observer JS) reduced 3PP more pronouncedly (in Studies 1-3 and 4b, but not replicated in Studies 4-5). Moreover, those who decided to resolve the ambiguity (hence, removing the risk of punishing unfairly) exceeded the 3PP observed under no ambiguity (Study 4). However, we did not consistently observe these concerns about punishing unfairly to affect 3PP (Studies 4-5). We further considered whether people could use ambiguity as justification for remaining passive-thus, avoiding the costs of 3PP. We did not find conclusive evidence supporting this notion. Taken together, ambiguity entails a situational boundary of 3PP that sheds light on the prevalence of this behavior and, potentially, on its preceding decision-making.

How prosocial is moral courage?

Moral courage, that is, defending moral beliefs despite personal risks, is often seen as a hallmark of prosocial behavior. We argue that prosociality in moral courage is, however, complex. While its prosociality is often evident at a higher societal level, it can be contested in some aspects of morally courageous acts. We review the literature on two such aspects and highlight that differences and conflicts in moral beliefs, as well as the confrontational nature of many morally courageous acts, call into question prosociality. We recommend that future research takes the complexity of prosociality in moral courage into account to obtain a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the psychological underpinnings of moral courage and its contributions to the functioning of societies.

The functions of anger in moral courage-Insights from a behavioral study.

Moral courage is manifested when bystanders intervene to stop or prevent others' norm transgressions, despite potential costs to themselves. Although theoretical models propose a key role of emotions, in particular anger, in the psychological processes underlying moral courage, to date this role is underexplored. In a behavioral study, we proposed a conceptual differentiation between experienced and expressed anger in response to a witnessed moral transgression. By staging the embezzlement of money from project funds in the lab, we tested whether anger arises in response to a witnessed moral norm transgression and scrutinized its unique contribution to predicting who intervenes and who remains inactive in the context of other theoretically relevant emotions (guilt, fear, and empathy). In addition, we investigated the role of bystanders' anger expression in response to the transgression. Lastly, we tested whether experienced and expressed anger reactions were predicted across time from dispositions. Our paradigm allowed us to obtain observational data of behavioral responses and anger expression and experienced emotion reports in response to a realistic moral norm transgression. Results showed that experienced anger increased after the transgression and uniquely predicted intervention. Experienced anger reaction was predictable across time from dispositional sensitivity to observed injustice. Anger expression was only loosely associated with anger experience and intervention, suggesting it may constitute a display of disapproval in itself. The present findings from a realistic moral transgression situation evidence the important role of anger in the psychological process underlying moral courage. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Rocky Road from Experience to Expression of Emotions-Women's Anger About Sexism.

We investigated women's anger expression in response to sexism. In three studies (Ns = 103, 317, and 241), we tested the predictions that women express less anger about sexism than they experience-the anger gap-and that the anger expressed by women is associated with instrumental concerns, specifically perceived costs and benefits of confronting sexism. To estimate the specificity of the proposed gap, we compared women's anger reactions to men's anger reactions as well as anger reactions to sadness reactions. Across studies, we found support for the anger gap, that is, lower anger expression than experience, and the gap was more pronounced for women than for men (Study 3). Surprisingly, a gap also occurred in sadness reactions. Regarding instrumental concerns, there was converging evidence that expressed anger was negatively associated with individual costs. We also investigated whether anger expression can be encouraged through women's identification with feminists (Studies 1 and 2) and support by other women (Study 2); yet, we found no evidence. We conclude that, to understand women's-and men's-reactions to sexism, it is critical not to mistake their emotion expression for how they really feel, but instead to also consider strategic concerns. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00081-7.

[Four years after the Ebola crisis : Challenges, experiences, and implications in the German public health context]. / Vier Jahre nach der Ebolakrise : Herausforderungen, Erfahrungen und Schlussfolgerungen für den Öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst in Deutschland.

The Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa in 2014/2015 was by far the biggest, most prolonged, and geographically most widespread outbreak of this disease since the discovery of the Ebola virus in 1976. Although no cases of Ebola virus disease were confirmed in Germany, a number of crisis management activities were initiated.Based on a combination of local, national, and international lessons learned, literature research, and a large number of discussions among German colleagues as well as German and foreign colleagues, the experiences of selected German public health actors as well as implications for health protection activities in Germany are presented.On the one hand, preparedness for managing unusual high consequence health events-caused by rare, highly pathogenic biological agents-including the provision of adequate material and personnel resources remains important in Germany. On the other hand, more German engagement in global health is necessary, because the dividing line between global health and local health is increasingly disappearing.

When to reveal what you feel: How emotions towards antagonistic out-group and third party audiences are expressed strategically.

In intergroup conflicts, expressed emotions influence how others see and react to those who express them. Here, we investigated whether this in turn implies that emotions may be expressed strategically. We tested whether emotion expression can differ from emotion experience, and whether emotion expression (more than emotion experience) is used to pursue specific goals. Specifically, we focused on whether support-seeking emotions (fear and sadness) are used to call for support from a powerful third party and contempt to distance from an antagonistic out-group. In two studies, using the same ostensible conflict, we manipulated whether participants communicated their emotions towards the out-group (no vs. yes) and third party (no vs. yes) and employed a between-subjects design in Study 1 (N = 86) and a within-subjects design in Study 2 (N = 83). In both studies, we found that members of a disadvantaged group expressed reduced support-seeking emotions towards the out-group than they experienced (i.e., in conditions without an audience), providing support for the assumption that emotion expression does not necessarily reflect experience. Further, in Study 2, we found in line with expectations that the goal to call for support was more important in the communication with the third party than with the antagonistic out-group. The goal was best predicted by expressed support-seeking emotions, providing support for the assumption that emotion expression is used to pursue goals. Interestingly, we only found this association for a beneficial goal (i.e., calling for support) and not for distancing, a destructive goal. These results support the proposed strategic use of emotion expression and as such advance our understanding of the function of expressed emotions.

Event-related potentials in response to cheating and cooperation in a social dilemma game.

A sequential prisoner's dilemma game was combined with psychophysiological measures to examine the cognitive underpinnings of reciprocal exchange. Participants played four rounds of the game with partners who either cooperated or cheated. In a control condition, the partners' faces were shown, but no interaction took place. The partners' behaviors were consistent in the first three rounds of the game, but in the last round some of the partners unexpectedly changed strategies. In the first round of the game, the feedback about a partner's decision elicited a feedback P300, which was more pronounced for cooperation and cheating in comparison to the control condition, but did not vary as a function of feedback valence. In the last round, both the feedback negativity and the feedback P300 were sensitive to expectancy violations. There was no consistent evidence for a negativity bias, that is, enhanced allocation of attention to feedback about another person's cheating in comparison to feedback about another person's cooperation. Instead, participants focused on both positive and negative information, and flexibly adjusted their processing biases to the diagnosticity of the information. This conclusion was corroborated by the ERP correlates of memory retrieval. Successful retrieval of a partner's reputation was associated with an anterior positivity between 400 and 600 ms after face onset. This anterior positivity was more pronounced for both cooperator and cheater faces in comparison to control faces. The results suggest that it is not the negativity of social information, but rather its motivational and behavioral relevance that determines its processing.

[Lessons learnt from the German smallpox outbreaks after World War II]. / Pockenausbrüche nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg in Deutschland.

BACKGROUND: Even though smallpox was declared eradicated by WHO in 1980, it cannot be ruled out that the etiological variola virus could be used as a biological weapon. Undestroyed viruses from biowarfare programmes, virus strains left undetected in a freezer or dangerous recombinant poxvirus constructs could cause dangerous outbreaks in a relatively unprotected population. OBJECTIVES: Despite an abundance of studies performed during the eradication of smallpox, epidemiological data for preparedness planning and outbreak control in modern, industrialized countries are scarce. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Full-text hand search for the period from 1945 to 1975 in the main German public health journals. RESULTS: After World War II 12 smallpox outbreaks occurred in Germany. They were studied with the focus on the period of contagiousness, the protective effect of vaccination, booster-effect of revaccination and the place of infection. A total of 95 individuals contracted smallpox, including 10 fatalities. Despite having been previously vaccinated, 81 vaccinated persons came down with smallpox, yet 91% of them developed only mild symptoms. These patients presented a high risk for spreading the infection to contact persons due to misinterpretation of symptoms and the continuing social contacts. Basically, the risk of transmission in the first 2 to 3 days after onset of symptoms was low, thus facilitating antiepidemic measures. The importance of hospital preparedness is emphasized by the fact that most infections occurred in hospitals. CONCLUSION: The data analyzed provide valuable information for today's outbreak response planning and counter bioterrorism preparedness.

Continued vigilance - development of an online evaluation tool for assessing preparedness of medical facilities for biological events.

OBJECTIVE: Effective response to biological events necessitates ongoing evaluation of preparedness. This study was a bilateral German-Israeli collaboration aimed at developing an evaluation tool for assessing preparedness of medical facilities for biological events. METHODS: Measurable parameters were identified through a literature review for inclusion in the evaluation tool and disseminated to 228 content experts in two modified Delphi cycles. Focus groups were conducted to identify psychosocial needs of the medical teams. Table-top and functional exercises were implemented to review applicability of the tool. RESULTS: One hundred seventeen experts from Germany and Israel participated in the modified Delphi. Out of 188 parameters that were identified, 183 achieved a consensus of >75% of the content experts. Following comments recommended in the Delphi cycles, and feedback from focus groups and hospital exercises, the final tool consisted of 172 parameters. Median level of importance of each parameter was calculated based on ranking recommended in the Delphi process. Computerized web-based software was developed to calculate scores of preparedness for biological events. CONCLUSION: Ongoing evaluation means, such as the tool developed in the study, can facilitate the need for a valid and reliable mechanism that may be widely adopted and implemented as quality assurance measures. The tool is based on measurable parameters and indicators that can effectively present strengths and weaknesses in managing a response to a public health threat, and accordingly, steps can be implemented to improve readiness. Adoption of such a tool is an important component of assuring public health and effective emergency management.

Unfinished business: efforts to define dual-use research of bioterrorism concern.

Biotechnological research poses a special security problem because of the duality between beneficial use and misuse. In order to find a balance between regulating potentially dangerous research and assuring scientific advancement, a number of assessments have tried to define which types of research are especially open to misuse and should therefore be considered dual-use research of special concern requiring rigorous oversight. So far, there has been no common understanding of what such activities are. Here we present a review of 27 assessments focusing on biological dual-use issues published between 1997 and 2008. Dual-use research activities identified by these assessments as being of special concern were compiled and compared. Moreover, from these 27 assessments, the primary research publications explicitly identified as examples of concerning research activities were extracted and analyzed. We extracted a core list of 11 activities of special concern and show that this list does not match with the reasons why primary research publications were identified as being of special concern. Additionally, we note that the 11 activities identified are not easily conducted or replicated, and therefore the likelihood of their being used in a high-tech mass casualty bioterrorism event should be reevaluated.