Competition and moral behavior: A meta-analysis of forty-five crowd-sourced experimental designs.

Does competition affect moral behavior? This fundamental question has been debated among leading scholars for centuries, and more recently, it has been tested in experimental studies yielding a body of rather inconclusive empirical evidence. A potential source of ambivalent empirical results on the same hypothesis is design heterogeneity-variation in true effect sizes across various reasonable experimental research protocols. To provide further evidence on whether competition affects moral behavior and to examine whether the generalizability of a single experimental study is jeopardized by design heterogeneity, we invited independent research teams to contribute experimental designs to a crowd-sourced project. In a large-scale online data collection, 18,123 experimental participants were randomly allocated to 45 randomly selected experimental designs out of 95 submitted designs. We find a small adverse effect of competition on moral behavior in a meta-analysis of the pooled data. The crowd-sourced design of our study allows for a clean identification and estimation of the variation in effect sizes above and beyond what could be expected due to sampling variance. We find substantial design heterogeneity-estimated to be about 1.6 times as large as the average standard error of effect size estimates of the 45 research designs-indicating that the informativeness and generalizability of results based on a single experimental design are limited. Drawing strong conclusions about the underlying hypotheses in the presence of substantive design heterogeneity requires moving toward much larger data collections on various experimental designs testing the same hypothesis.

Revisiting the divide between deontology and utilitarianism in moral dilemma judgment: A multinomial modeling approach.

We investigate the psychological bases underlying moral dilemma judgment with the help of multinomial processing tree modeling, and consider how determinants of dilemma judgment should best be conceptualized. We argue that, for conceptual as well as empirical reasons, norms and consequences should be considered as more intimately linked with one another than their systematic juxtaposition in dilemma research may suggest, and propose that norm-endorsement should be viewed through a consequentialist lens as well. Investigating this proposal, we introduce a variant of the CNI model of moral dilemma judgment, which focuses on the use of proscriptive norms only. In five experiments, we validate this proCNI model and assess the parameters' sensitivity to different types of consequences and personal involvement. Our findings suggest that the parameter representing "norms" is sensitive to consequences as well, such that norms do not guide moral judgment unless they are expected to produce tangible consequences. Thus, present research suggests that the split between norms and "consequences" (or "deontology" and "utilitarianism") as determinants of judgment is artificial. We suggest that, ultimately, viewing dilemma judgments through a consequentialist lens may be a useful approach for advancing theoretical development in the field of dilemma research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Microorganisms @ materials surfaces in aircraft: Potential risks for public health? - A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Civil air travel is increasingly recognized as an important potential source for the rapid spread of infectious diseases that were geographically confined in the past, creating international epidemics with great health and socio-economic impact. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic review is to elucidate the correlations of materials surfaces (composition, structure, properties) and microbial dependences on them in aircraft. METHODS: The review was prepared according to PRISMA guidelines. Based on a systematic search for studies published before 30 June 2018 in English, we selected and reviewed the contamination, tenacity, and transmission of microorganisms related to specific surfaces within the aircraft cabin. We also reviewed the chemical composition and properties of these surface materials applied within aircraft. RESULTS: From a total of 828 records 15 articles were included for further analysis in this systematic review, indicating that the aircraft interior surfaces in seat areas (tray tables, armrests, seat covers) and lavatories (door knob handles, toilet flush buttons) are generally colonized by various types of potentially hazardous microorganisms. CONCLUSIONS: The interior surfaces in seat and lavatory areas could pose higher health risks by causing infections due to their relatively high microbial contamination compared with other interior surfaces. The classification, chemical composition, surface structures and physicochemical properties of materials surfaces have a varied effect on the adhesion, colonization, tenacity and potential transmission of microorganisms within the aircraft cabin. Strategies are proposed for the interruption of surface-related infection chains in the aircraft field.

Effects of oxygen plasma treatment on interfacial shear strength and post-peak residual strength of a PLGA fiber-reinforced brushite cement.

Biodegradable calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) are promising materials for minimally invasive treatment of bone defects. However, CPCs have low mechanical strength and fracture toughness. One approach to overcome these limitations is the modification of the CPC with reinforcing fibers. The matrix-fiber interfacial shear strength (ISS) is pivotal for the biomechanical properties of fiber-reinforced CPCs. The aim of the current study was to control the ISS between a brushite-forming CPC and degradable PLGA fibers by oxygen plasma treatment and to analyze the impact of the ISS alterations on its bulk mechanical properties. The ISS between CPC matrix and PLGA fibers, tested in a single-fiber pull-out test, increased up to 2.3-fold to max. 3.22±0.92MPa after fiber oxygen plasma treatment (100-300W, 1-10min), likely due to altered surface chemistry and morphology of the fibers. This ISS increase led to more efficient crack bridging and a subsequent increase of the post-peak residual strength at biomechanically relevant, moderate strains (up to 1%). At the same time, the work of fracture significantly decreased, possibly due to an increased proportion of fractured fibers unable to further absorb energy by frictional sliding. Flexural strength and flexural modulus were not affected by the oxygen plasma treatment. This study shows for the first time that the matrix-fiber ISS and some of the resulting mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced CPCs can be improved by chemical modifications such as oxygen plasma treatment, generating the possibility of avoiding catastrophic failures at the implant site and thus enhancing the applicability of biodegradable CPCs for the treatment of (load-bearing) bone defects.

Decreased extrusion of calcium phosphate cement versus high viscosity PMMA cement into spongious bone marrow-an ex vivo and in vivo study in sheep vertebrae.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty of osteoporotic vertebral fractures bears the risk of pulmonary cement embolism (3.5%-23%) caused by leakage of commonly applied acrylic polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) cement to spongious bone marrow or outside of the vertebrae. Ultraviscous cement and specific augmentation systems have been developed to reduce such adverse effects. Rapidly setting, resorbable, physiological calcium phosphate cement (CPC) may also represent a suitable alternative. PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the intravertebral extrusion of CPC and PMMA cement in an ex vivo and in vivo study in sheep. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: A prospective experimental animal study was carried out. METHODS: Defects (diameter 5 mm; 15 mm depth) were created by a ventrolateral percutaneous approach in lumbar vertebrae of female Merino sheep (2-4 years) either ex vivo (n=17) or in vivo (n=6), and injected with: (1) CPC (L3); (2) CPC reinforced with 10% poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) fibers (L4); or (3) PMMA cement (L5; Kyphon HV-R). Controls were untouched (L1) or empty defects (L2). The effects of the cement injections were assessed in vivo by blood gas analysis and ex vivo by computed tomography (CT), micro-CT (voxel size: 67 µm), histology, and biomechanical testing. RESULTS: Following ex vivo injection, micro-CT documented significantly increased extrusion of PMMA cement in comparison to CPC (+/- fibers) starting at a distance of 1 mm from the edge of the defect (confirmed by histology); this was also demonstrated by micro-CT following in vivo cement injection. In addition, blood gas analysis showed consistently significantly lower values for the fraction of oxygenized hemoglobin/total hemoglobin (FO2Hb) in the arterial blood until 25 minutes following injection of the PMMA cement (p ≤ .05 vs. CPC; 7, 15 minutes). Biomechanical testing following ex vivo injection showed significantly lower compressive strength and Young modulus than untouched controls for the empty defect (40% and 34% reduction, respectively) and all three cement-injected defects (21%-27% and 29%-32% reduction, respectively), without significant differences among the cements. CONCLUSIONS: Because of comparable compressive strength, but significantly lower cement extrusion into spongious bone marrow than PMMA cement, physiological CPC (+/- PLGA fibers) may represent an attractive alternative to PMMA for vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty of osteoporotic vertebral fractures to reduce the frequency or severity of adverse effects.