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- Author or Editor: Orsolya Fehér x
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Background and aims
This paper aims to shed light on the prevailing public narrative regarding psychedelics and the media’s role in cultivating it. The study focuses on the four states of the Visegrad Alliance, whose members gained independence from the Soviet Union and later joined the European Union simultaneously. Thus, ominous substances were introduced to their drug markets and wider societies around the same period, yet their current drug policies and international stances on drug related issues differ vastly. The paper argues that although the so-called psychedelic renaissance is rather visible and mediatized in wealthy occidental countries, due to a harsh stigma surrounding psychedelics in the former Eastern Bloc, the state of psychedelic science is lagging behind its potential.
Methods
Applying mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative, primary and secondary data collection, the effects of mass media, and the impact of the respective cultural and legal environments of each country are compared and analyzed, using multiple linear regressions, mediation, and moderation analyses.
Results and conclusions
As frequent viewers of television demonstrate a lower level of informedness and a more negative attitude toward psychedelics, the findings of this paper are parallel to what is a frequent topic among psychedelic researchers and one that poses important institutional, financial, and reputational challenges on the progress of science. The vision of this study is to foster a public discourse that is more balanced and in which real and relevant risks are addressed.
Current energy systems are in most instances not fully working sustainably. The provision and use of energy only consider limited resources, risk potential or financial constraints on a limited scale. Furthermore, the knowledge and benefits are only available for a minor group of the population or are outright neglected. The availability of different resources for energy purposes determines economic development, as well as the status of the society and the environment. The access to energy grids has an impact on socio-economic living standards of communities. This not fully developed system is causing climate change with all its related outcomes. This investigation takes into consideration different views on renewable energy systems — such as international discussions about biomass use for energy production, “fuel versus food”, biogas use — and attempts to compare major prospects of social acceptance of renewable energy in Europe and Africa. Can all obstacles to the use of renewable energy be so profound that the overall strategy of reducing anthropogenic causes of climate change be seriously affected?
Abstract
West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes between wild birds (natural hosts) and other vertebrates. Horses and humans are incidental, dead-end hosts, but can develop severe neurological disorders. Owing to the close contact of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with the extracellular fluid of the brain, the analysis of CSF composition can reflect central nervous system (CNS) impairments enabling the diagnosis and understanding of various neurodegenerative CNS disorders. Our objective was to compare the findings from the CSF samples of horses with neuroinvasive WNV infection with those of healthy controls. We compared findings from fifteen CSF samples of 13 horses with acute WNV encephalomyelitis with those of 20 healthy controls. Protein, particular enzymes and ions, glucose and lactate showed abnormal levels in a significant number of WNV cases. None of the six horses with elevated glucose concentrations survived. Rather neutrophilic than mononuclear pleocytosis was identified with WNV infection. Neutrophils probably play a role in the development of inflammatory response and brain damage. Although elevated glucose levels reliably predicted the outcome, they might be the consequence of increased plasma levels and reflect general stress rather than CNS pathophysiology. The CSF findings of WNV encephalomyelitis patients are non-specific and variable but facilitate the differential diagnosis.
Abstract
In our study, using a combination of eye-tracking parameter analysis and the van Westendorp method, we investigate whether participants pay more attention to products that they perceive as more expensive or to those that they prefer in the ranking process. The experiment involved 50 participants, a questionnaire with ranking and pricing tasks, and an eye-tracking measurement. Three wine varieties (Irsai Olivér, Rosé and Merlot-Shiraz) and three different label alternatives were tested. When comparing the results of the ranking and the pricing tasks, the product that is considered more expensive is not always the one that is most appealing to the participants. If we compare the results from the analysis of the eye-tracking parameters and the pricing, we can say that in all cases the labels that received the most visual attention were those that were priced more expensively by the participants.
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) offers a new instrument for food scientists to evaluate different aspects of food products. The possible applications range from product design testing, evaluation of the labels, effects of different placements or the evaluation of store layouts. These analyses help us to get a deeper understanding of consumers' minds. Additionally, VR can be coupled by several different tools (e.g. eye-trackers or skin conductance sensors or even electroencephalographs). However, as there have been only a limited number of applications published, there are several open questions which need to be answered. In the presented paper the authors aim i) to introduce the current knowledge on VR applications in food science by introducing several fields of applications and ii) to point out the most important questions regarding the applications of VR in food science.
