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Generative AI technologies such as large language models show novel potential to enhance educational research. For example, generative large language models were shown to be capable of solving quantitative reasoning tasks in physics and concept tests such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Given the importance of such concept inventories for physics education research, and the challenges in developing them such as field testing with representative populations, this study seeks to examine to what extent a generative large language model could be utilized to generate a synthetic dataset for the FCI that exhibits content-related variability in responses. We use the recently introduced ChatGPT based on the GPT 4 generative large language model and investigate to what extent ChatGPT could solve the FCI accurately (RQ1) and could be prompted to solve the FCI as if it were a student belonging to a different cohort (RQ2). Furthermore, we study, to what extent ChatGPT could be prompted to solve the FCI as if it were a student having a different force- and mechanics-related preconception (RQ3). In alignment with other research, we found that ChatGPT could accurately solve the FCI. We furthermore found that prompting ChatGPT to respond to the inventory as if it belonged to a different cohort yielded no variance in responses, however, responding as if it had a certain preconception introduced much variance in responses that approximate real human responses on the FCI in some regards.

Background: Children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) have multiple psychological and developmental risks, including an increased lifetime risk of developing a mental illness themselves. Emotion regulation (ER) has been identified as a potential underlying mechanism of the transgenerational transmission of mental disorders. This study compares ER strategies in parents with and without a mental illness and their children. Further, it aims to examine the relationship between parents and children's psychopathology with a focus on the role of parental and child ER. Methods: Participants were 96 COPMI (77% female) and 99 children of parents without mental illness (COPWMI, 83% female) aged 4–16 years and their parents. Psychopathology and ER strategies of parents and children were assessed with a series of questionnaires. Results: Both COPMI and their parents showed significantly more psychopathology and more maladaptive and adaptive ER strategies in comparison with COPWMI and their parents. Parent and child adaptive ER strategies mediated the relationship between the psychopathology of parents and children only when child maladaptive ER strategies were low. Conclusions : The findings further our understanding of the processes by which parental psychopathology affects child outcomes. Our findings highlight the importance of implementing preventive programs that specifically target the reduction of maladaptive ER in children to interrupt the transgenerational transmission of psychopathological symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental condition with a prevalence rate above 1%, characterized by deficits in social communication and interaction; restrictive, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities; and a preference for sameness and routines. The majority of adult ASD patients suffer from comorbid conditions such as depression and anxiety. Therapy options for adult ASD patients are lacking, with presently no available evidence-based interventions in Germany. Recently, two interventions to improve social responsiveness have been published. FASTER ("Freiburger Asperger-Spezifische Therapie für ERwachsene" = Freiburg Asperger-specific therapy for adults) is a manualized group psychotherapy program including three modules on psychoeducation, stress regulation management, and non-verbal and verbal social communication training with videotaped tasks. SCOTT&EVA ("Social Cognition Training Tool", and its enhancement "Emotionen Verstehen und Ausdruecken" = understanding and expressing emotions) is a computer-based training program to enhance social cognition including video and audio material of emotional expressions and complex real-life social situations. Initial studies for both programs have shown good feasibility and efficacy.Methods: Three hundred sixty adult participants with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will take part in a randomized controlled three-armed multi-center trial to prove the efficacy of manualized group psychotherapy and a manualized computer-based training program. Both interventions will be compared with a treatment as usual (TAU) group, aiming to establish evidence-based psychotherapy approaches for adult individuals with ASD. The primary outcome is evaluated by parents, spouses, or others who have sufficient insight into the respective participant's social communication and interaction, and will be measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale. First, each of both interventions will be compared to TAU. If at least one of the differences is significant, both interventions will be compared against each other. The primary outcome will be measured at baseline (T0) and 4 months after baseline (T1).Discussion: The trial is the first to validate psychiatric therapeutic and training interventions for adult ASD patients in Germany. A trial is needed because the prevalence of ASD in adulthood without intellectual disability is high, and no evidence-based intervention can be offered in Germany.Trial Registration: German Clinical Trial Register DRKS00017817 . Registered on 20 April 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Develops a theoretical frame linking the genesis of formal organizations to societal evolution. Analyzes peculiarities of medieval craft guilds and the developments that caused their decline and replacement by formal organizations. Medieval guilds were important predecessors of these formal organizations. Includes 101 references. (MLH)

In this article, we analyze approaches for identifying and transferring “best practices.” The relevant literature shows that both, the identification and the transfer practices, are extremely difficult processes. Nevertheless, management consultants position themselves and are seen by others as specialists in identifying and transferring effective or even best practices. We analyze qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (survey) data on the ways in which German management consultants specializing on strategy and process design try to identify and transfer “best practices.” Our results document that consultants neither agree on the methods with which to identify best practices nor on the possibilities to transfer them between organizations within one or between different industries. We show that attempts to transfer best practices are hampered with severe stickiness—even for consultants. We conclude that best practices are mere marketing constructs of management consultants and suggest reframing discussions on them around organizational routines and rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Mental health problems are highly frequent, as well as being associated with enormous societal and economic costs and significant disability-adjusted life years. Children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) are at a tremendously increased risk to develop disorders themselves. According to the literature, parental mental disorders launch a wave of risk factors that in turn predict the emergence of psychological problems in the offspring, and effective treatment of the parental disorder has been associated with reduced child psychopathology (launch and grow assumption). Furthermore, studies focusing on parent-child interaction demonstrate generally poorer parenting skills in parents with mental disorders, and the enhancement of such skills has been a significant mediator in improving child outcomes (parenting assumption). Objective: To implement a preventive intervention for COPMI with the aim of interrupting the transmission of mental disorders in children of a parent with mental disorders. An RCT will compare state-of-the-art cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for a parent with mental disorders to CBT plus the Positive Parenting Program (Triple-P), a well-established and evidence-based program that enhances parenting skills. Methods: A total of 634 patients seeking treatment in 8 outpatient clinics in Germany and their children will be included between January 2018 and April 2021 in the study. We use (clinical) interviews and self- as well as other-report questionnaires to assess the families at four main measurement points [T1: beginning of waiting period for psychotherapy treatment (duration of waiting period depends on usual waiting period in the study center: multiple baselines), T2: begin of parental psychotherapy, T3: post-assessment, T4: 6 months follow-up]. The total observation period will be 39 months. The patients will be randomly assigned to either the control condition (25 to 45 CBT sessions) or the experimental condition (25 to 45 CBT sessions + 10 Triple-P sessions). For evaluating the treatment process, the patients and clinicians will also be assessed after each treatment session. Furthermore, there will be a continuous assessment and report of adverse events during treatment. Discussion: This trial will be the first ever to address the launch and grow as well as the parenting assumption in one study and to establish effects of the two different interventions on children's health. Our study will also likely be the first one to provide data on the comparative cost-effectiveness and will therefore provide essential information relevant for the potential implementation of such programs. The structure of the RCT will allow us to establish effects of the parental disorder(s) with/without comorbidities on children's health, to test assumptions of the trans-generational transmission model of mental disorders and bi-directional influences of different treatments on the model and to analyze specific transmission mechanisms. A deeper understanding of risk mechanisms will reveal specific transmission profiles that will result in the early detection of and effective reduction in risk factors and thus improve the health of the children at risk. Ethics: The study is carried out according to the Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines, the Declaration of Helsinki and its later supplements and local legal requirements. The lead ethics committee at the department of psychology at Philipps-University Marburg approved the study procedure and all study documents. A positive ethics committee vote is required at a study site, before the inclusion of a first patient at the respective site. Dissemination: Via peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, the results of this study will be made available to the scientific community. Using PsychData all primary data will be made available for re- and meta-analyses. Politicians, public health services, and stakeholders will be informed throughout the study and beyond, thus, improving public policy and health care decisions concerning preventive interventions and treatments for COPMI. Trial Registration: DRKS-ID: DRKS00013516 (German Clinical Trials Register, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00013516) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical frame is developed that links the genesis of formal organizations to societal evolution. This theoretical frame lends itself to an analysis of the peculiarities of the craft guilds and the developments that caused their decline and replacement by formal organizations. Medieval guilds were not yet forma! organizations but formed important predecessor institutions in the evolutionary process that led to the emergence of organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effective treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is essential for reducing the risk of stroke and heart failure. Cryoballoon (CB) ablation has been developed as an alternative to the use of radiofrequency (RF) energy for electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins. Herein, we provide long-term data regarding the efficacy of CB ablation in comparison to RF.Methods: FreezeAF was a randomised non-inferiority study comparing CB ablation with RF ablation for the treatment of patients with drug-refractory paroxysmal AF. Procedural success for the long-term follow-up (30 months) was defined as freedom from AF with an absence of persistent complications.Results: Of the 315 patients that were randomised and received catheter ablation, 292 (92.7%) completed the 30-month follow-up (147 in the RF group and 145 in the CB group). The baseline characteristics of the RF and CB groups were similar. Single-procedure success was achieved by 40% of patients in the RF group and 42% of the CB group (p < 0.001 for non-inferiority). When including re-do procedures in the analysis, the multiple procedure success rate was 72% in the RF group and 76% in the CB group.Conclusion: The data provide long-term evidence that CB ablation is non-inferior to RF ablation, with high proportions of patients reporting freedom from AF 30 months after the index procedure.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00774566 ; first registered October 16, 2008; first patient included October 20, 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Group-based psychotherapy in Autism Spectrum Disorder ( ASD) has predominantly been studied in the United States by small studies in school-aged children without long-term follow-up. We report results of a large, confirmatory, multicentre randomized-controlled phase- III trial in children and adolescents studying the ASD specific, manualized group-based cognitive behavioural SOSTA- FRA approach. Methods High-functioning ASD individuals aged 8-19 years old were randomized to 12 sessions SOSTA- FRA or treatment as usual. Primary outcomes were change in total raw score of the parent-rated Social Responsiveness Scale ( pSRS) between baseline (T2) and end of intervention (T4), and between T2 and 3 months after end of intervention (T5). Trial registration: ISRCTN94863788. Results Between 20/5/2010 and 14/2/2013, n = 320 ASD patients were screened, n = 228 patients were randomized, and N = 209 analysed. Mean pSRS difference between groups at T4 was −6.5 (95% CI −11.6 to - 1.4; p = .013), and at T5 −6.4 (−11.5 to −1.3, p = .015). Pre-treatment SRS and IQ were positively associated with stronger improvement at T4 and T5. Conclusions Short-term ASD-specific add-on group-based psychotherapy has shown postintervention efficacy with regard to parent-rated social responsiveness predominantly in male high-functioning children and adolescents with ASD. Future studies should implement blinded standardized observational measures of peer-related social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 13th meeting of the Signal Transduction Society was held in Weimar, from October 28 to 30, 2009. Special focus of the 2009 conference was "Aging and Senescence", which was co-organized by the SFB 728 "Environmentally-Induced Aging Processes" of the University of Düsseldorf and the study group 'Signal Transduction' of the German Society for Cell Biology (DGZ). In addition, several other areas of signal transduction research were covered and supported by different consortia associated with the Signal Transduction Society including the long-term associated study groups of the German Society for Immunology and the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and for instance the SFB/Transregio 52 "Transcriptional Programming of Individual T Cell Subsets" located in Würzburg, Mainz and Berlin. The different research areas that were introduced by outstanding keynote speakers attracted more than 250 scientists, showing the timeliness and relevance of the interdisciplinary concept and exchange of knowledge during the three days of the scientific program. This report gives an overview of the presentations of the conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the efficacy of hypericum extract WS 5570 (known as St. John's wort) compared to paroxetine in patients with moderate to severe major depression. Participants in the randomized double blind, double dummy, reference controlled, multicenter non-inferiority trial in Germany; Use of Hamilton depression scale, Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scale, clinical global impressions, and Beck depression inventory as main outcome measures; Conclusion that hypericum is as effective as paroxetine and better tolerated by patients.

This article examines the evolution of Betriebswirtschaftslehre (BWL) or the science of business economics in Germany, the model country for business education in the early twentieth century and two recipient countries, Denmark and Turkey. The article is principally concerned with the processes and outcomes of creating, in the case of Germany and importing in the case of Denmark and Turkey, a science of business economics. The aim of BWL should not be to develop recipes but to gain insight into economic processes. If useable results were to be produced as by-products on the way, so much the better, they claimed. However, the criterion of usability should never direct the selection of research questions. The divergent outcomes in these two recipient countries, also demonstrate the limits to identical reproduction in international transfers of ideas. This has to do, as the preceding accounts and discussion show, with contextual differences. It also has to do with the likely openness of those on the receiving side to other influences, as in the case of the parallel Anglo-Saxon orientation in Denmark and the French sway in Turkey. The resulting eclecticism at the receiving ends was due to traditions in place from historical influences as well as concurrent infusion of alternative logics and perspectives from other sources. Indeed, this may serve as a sustained source of differentiation between transmitter and receiving countries, because the former, as was the case with Germany in this instance, being at the forefront are likely to remain largely immune to any outside influence.

After a conceptualization of Americanization, an overview over the process of Americanization of the German system of higher education in management is provided. This process is characterized by four phases: (a) the almost complete absence of American influences on academic German management education before World War II, (b) the "re-education" of German managers after World War II based on American principles of the free market and management approaches with some assumed effects on academic management education, (c) the increasing acceptance of American approaches to management sciences within academia, starting in the 1950s, (d) the attempts to Americanize (via Europeanizing) the higher management education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on how associations in Germany in the 18th century evolved towards a rational organizational design, while highlighting how their members developed organizational behavior. How the relationship between organizing, disciplining and self-discipline were dealt with in the theories of Elias, Weber, Oestreich and Foucault disciplinization; Reference to the process where the members of associations enabled them to improve their abilities.

The article focuses on the importance of historical analyses of organization in contemporary organizational science. It states that Max Weber, one of the forefathers of sociology and organizational theory, believed that understanding contemporary institutions came through studying their history. It mentions that modern organizational researchers have abandoned researching historical studies due to the professionalization of sociology and in finding its own identity independent from history and other disciplines. It examines the historical evolution of organizations and differences in work organizations in France and Germany. It mentions that some differences are due to the apprenticeship system of guilds that existed in Germany due to the lack of state-run schools in Germany.

Background: Radiotherapy is known to improve local tumor control in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC), although there is a lack of convincing data on a potential overall survival benefit of chemoradiotherapy over chemotherapy alone. To improve efficacy of radiotherapy, new approaches need to be evolved. Carbon ion radiotherapy is supposed to be more effective than photon radiotherapy due to a higher relative biological effectiveness (RBE) and due to a steep dose-gradient making dose delivery highly conformal.Methods: The present Phase II PACK-study investigates carbon ion radiotherapy as definitive treatment in LAPC as well as in locally recurrent pancreatic cancer. A total irradiation dose of 48 Gy (RBE) will be delivered in twelve fractions. Concurrent chemotherapy is accepted, if indicated. The primary endpoint is the overall survival rate after 12 months. Secondary endpoints are progression free survival, safety, quality of life and impact on tumor markers CA 19-9 and CEA. A total of twenty-five patients are planned for recruitment over 2 years.Discussion: Recently, Japanese researches could show promising results in a Phase I/II-study evaluating chemoradiotherapy of carbon ion radiotherapy and gemcitabine in LAPC. The present prospective PACK-study investigates the efficacy of carbon ion radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer at Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT) in Germany.Trial Registration: The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04194268 (Retrospectively registered on December, 11th 2019). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Elderly patients represent a major fraction of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in routine clinical practice, but they are still underrepresented in clinical trials. In particular, data regarding efficacy and safety in frail or elderly patients with respect to immunotherapy are lacking. Importantly, immunosenescence in elderly patients might interfere with activities of immune-modulating drugs such as PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Thus, there is an urgent need to assess safety and efficacy of such inhibitors in this group.Methods/design: This prospective, open label, treatment stratified, randomized phase II study will enroll 200 patients with stage IV NSCLC amenable at least to single-agent chemotherapy (CT). Eligible patients must be aged 70 years or older and/or "frail" (Charlson Comorbidity Index > 1) or have a restricted performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, ECOG > 1). Patients are stratified according to modified Cancer and Age Research Group (CARG) score: "fit" patients are allocated to combination CT (carboplatin/nab-paclitaxel) and "less fit" patients receive single-agent CT (gemcitabine or vinorelbine). After allocation to strata, patients are randomized 1:1 to receive either four cycles of CT or two cycles of CT followed by two cycles of durvalumab and subsequent maintenance treatment with durvalumab every 4 weeks. The primary endpoint is the rate of treatment-related grade III/IV adverse events (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) V4.03). As secondary endpoints, progression-free survival (PFS) according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) version 1.1, response rate (RR), overall survival (OS), descriptive subgroup analyses according to PD-L1 expression, and quality of life are addressed. Geriatric screening assessments and functional tests will be performed to complete the phenotyping of a potential "frail" and "elderly" patient cohort. The trial is accompanied by a biomaterial repository to explore potential biomarkers.Discussion: The DURATION trial will prospectively investigate the safety and tolerability of anti-PD-L1 treatment with durvalumab after chemotherapy in elderly and frail patients and thereby provide new insights into the effect of PD-L1 blockade and the impact of immunosenescence in this cohort of patients.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03345810; initially registered on 17 November 2017. Eudra-CT, 2016-003963-20; initially registered on 3 January 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]