University of Erfurt

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag untersucht, wie die breite gesellschaftliche Adaption von KI-Anwendungen demokratische Partizipation und Repräsentation verändert. Im Unterschied zu dominanten Debatten über Manipulation der politischen Öffentlichkeit oder die Automatisierung staatlichen Handelns richtet er den Fokus auf die Rekonfiguration demokratischer Beteiligungsprozesse sowie der institutionellen Verarbeitung und Rückkopplung politischer Beiträge (Responsivität). Hierfür wird eine Heuristik entwickelt, die zentrale Einsatzformen entlang von Steuerungsrichtung, Interaktionslogik und institutionellem Anspruch ordnet. Unterschieden werden vier Pfade: Top-down-Schnittstellen, die institutionelle Interaktion mit Bürger:innen skalieren; Throughput-Unterstützung im Kontext demokratischer Innovationen; Bottom-up-Anwendungen, die zivilgesellschaftliche Mobilisierung durch sinkende Transaktionskosten erweitern; sowie Systemersatz-Modelle, die Partizipationsfunktionen an persönliche Agenten delegieren. In jedem Bereich werden daraus folgende Forschungs- sowie Design- und Governancefragen diskutiert.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world1”. But how can educational methods and contents motivate and steer society in a positive direction, and how do we accelerate the educational reform process?Here we present tools, projects, and movements from academic curricula, ranging from storytelling and experiential coursework to grassroots initiatives in green education.For the UN climate conference COP28 in Dubai in 2023, students, employees, scientists, climate activists, writers and Indigenous authors spurred climate action beyond its walls and national borders through creative means. The outcome was a fluid book2 calling on politicians, policymakers and organisations to action.At the Amsterdam University College (Netherlands), teachers (re-)designed, taught and coordinated the second-year bachelor course ‘Big Questions in the Anthropocene’. 250 students critically evaluated their planetary relationships and explored new ways to transform and sustain them. An experiential format asked students to design and guide a city-based excursion while reflecting on and reviewing that of their peers’ and developing an independent research project.At the grassroots level, EDI (Equality, Diversion and Inclusion) Committees within the program Earth and Environmental Sciences organised lectures, workshops and information sessions on geoethical topics3. These committees connect through networking like national events, conferences and social media (e.g. ‘Earth Science for All 2025’), informing and activating peers around inclusive, cross-broder scientific collaboration and the deconstruction of colonial practices.Plato’s Garden is a VU’s grassroots cross-faculty educators’ movement with interdisciplinary expertise spanning six VU faculties and collaborating with the University of Twente. The platform promotes and incorporates nature- and art-based pedagogic methods such as forest bathing, ecopedagogy exercises and nature walks into higher education.In line with this, the Sustainability Education Hub is active in integrating sustainability into all VU programs.The tools mentioned here showcase inspiration and creativity, providing fertile ground for the germination of new identities, ultimately blossoming into hands- and heart-type of activities that embed curricula and (non-)academic communities in nature. The challenge is that all these programs operate more in isolation than in collaboration, lacking an ecosystem to scale these initiatives.Educational specialists and students need an infrastructure that supports their endeavours. This includes 1) formal embedding within university structures, 2) financial support from host institutes, 3) teachers and students with time to spend on those initiatives, 4) facilitating networking and 5) promoting active implementation in educational curricula. To stimulate meaningful transformation, we build on a collectivist approach rooted in existing (non-)academic settings and communities. Its strength lies in the diversity of geoethical practices and themes – such as climate action, digital transformation, and social justice – and their expression through educational programs and grassroots initiatives. Here, the classroom becomes a space of critical engagement, enabling us to confront the climate crisis as an ethical, social, and political condition that demands a lived, justice-oriented responsibility. This, in turn, supports an adaptive transformation toward a resilient and synergistic ecojust education.1 quote attributed to Nelson Mandela2 VU 2023, Fluidbook for COP28, www.vu.nl/cop283 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoethics

What Could Geosociology Be? Preliminary Considerations on the Sociology of the EarthGeosociology represents a fundamental shift in sociological inquiry, moving away from treating nature as an extra-social entity to viewing the Earth and society as a single, entangled reality. This "Sociology of the Earth" is increasingly necessary considering the planetary crises called ‘Anthropocene’, which reveal that social life is deeply embedded in planetary dynamics that shape the atmosphere, continents and oceans. What were exogenous drivers in the Holocene become endogenous processes in the Anthropocene. The presentation portrays sociology as a methodological science, drawing a parallel to geology. Much as a geologist observes physical strata, a sociologist observes the "layered" realities of social institutions. This comparison facilitates a dialogue between the two fields as epistemic equals, establishing a foundation for an interdisciplinary field.Central to this perspective is the anthropological shift. Drawing on Bruno Latour, the text argues that humans must be understood as "terrestrials" or "earthlings." This rejects the modern illusion of human autonomy and acknowledges that social achievements—like urbanisation—are essentially geo-social arrangements. It further builds upon classical schools of thought, for example, Ibn Khaldun, who in his Muqaddimah (1377) observed how specific landscapes and resource availability (such as the contrast between desert and hill dwellers) shape social organisation.The proposed epistemology of Geosociology navigates the space between social construction and material reality. While Berger and Luckmann famously defined reality as a social construct, Geosociology suggests that geological knowledge is a hybrid: it is mediated by human frameworks but anchored in the independent expedition into the telluric.The presentation also addresses the linguistic dimension, specifically the use of geological metaphors (e.g., "social tectonics") to convey broader concepts, such as ‘deep time’. While these tools help visualise complexity, Geosociology insists on critical reflection on whether they illuminate realities or merely aestheticize social matters. As Markus Schroer (2022) suggests, sociology must venture beyond the humanities into biology and geology to go beyond such metaphors and learn how to keep constant contact with reality.The multifaceted notion of the Anthropocene serves as the pivotal diagnostic tool, demonstrating that human activity has become peers with geological forces. This realisation challenges Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of the world as "everything that is the case" by asking whether the Earth's facticity carries ethical weight.Finally, inspired by Auguste Comte’s dictum that science leads to foresight, Geosociology looks toward the future. It even touches on "extraterrestrial sociology," citing Cixin Liu’s novel The Dark Forest, which posits that, as civilisations grow, the quantity of matter remains constant. Hence, ultimately, the recently coined neologism Geosociology integrates deep-time perspectives with social action, for intra- and extra-terrestrial Earthlings. Literature:Berger / Luckmann: The Social Construction of Reality, 1991Cixin Liu: The Dark Forest, 2015Comte: Cours de philosophie positive, 1830Grutzpalk: Strong Metaphors for Invisible Actants, 2016Ibn Khaldun: Al Muqaddimah, 1377Latour: Où suis-je ?: Leçons du confinement à l'usage des terrestres, 2021Schroer: Geosoziologie, 2022Wallenhorst / Wulf: Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, 2024Wittgenstein: Tractatus logico-philosophicus, 192

Im Kontext der hispanischen Variante der Gattung Diktatorenroman hat sich eine antirealistische Ästhetik herausgebildet, die in direkter Auseinandersetzung mit dem Figurentheater entsteht und sich auch in der Folge mit Referenz auf Figurentheater und Puppen weiterentwickelt. Dies geschieht in Reaktion auf eine politisch-soziale Wirklichkeit, die ihrerseits Züge des Grotesken und Irrealen trägt. Diese Ästhetik wird zunächst innerhalb des von Carpentier entwickelten Konzepts des real maravilloso situiert. Anschließend werden an zentralen Texten von Valle-Inclán, Asturias, Borges, García Márquez und Eloy Martínez zentrale Funktionen von Figurentheater und Puppen wie die Problematisierung der Grenzen zwischen lebendig/unbelebt/tot, die Theatralität der Wirklichkeit (Diktatur als Farce) und eine Ordnung der Simulakren nachgezeichnet.

ABSTRACT Background Vaccination is a cost-effective intervention preventing causes of 48% of deaths among children Under-5 in sub-Saharan Africa. However, one in five African children still has not completed basic vaccination, and over six million children have not received a single dose of the Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis vaccine, resulting in over half a million deaths annually. This study aims to understand the key factors influencing pediatrics health (vaccination) decision-making in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods A cross-sectional design using a multi-stage stratified sampling approach was used. Data were collected from 2,451 households with children Under-5 in three countries and analyzed using R. Correlation analysis was used to understand the associations between variables, while regression analysis was used to control for covariates and identify influences on one another. Results The findings show that beliefs in gender disparity, misinformation, and masculinity can undermine childhood vaccination outcomes. A child’s gender ( r = –0.33–0.40, p < 0.01) and misinformation ( r = –0.38–0.54, p < 0.01) impact vaccination intentions and behavior. Meanwhile, positive attitudes ( r = 0.36–0.49, p < 0.01), trust (r = 0.17–0.34, p < 0.01) and peer influence ( r = 0.27–0.33, p < 0.01) significantly improve uptake. However, regressions show that male caregivers had weaker attitudes (β = –0.31, p < 0.001), stronger beliefs about misinformation (β = 0.33, p < 0.001) and lower vaccination intentions (β = –0.12, p < 0.001). Country comparisons reveal that Kenyan and Malawian children are 3.6 (OR = 3.64, p < 0.001) and 13 (OR = 13.13, p < 0.001) times more likely to be vaccinated than Nigerian children, respectively. Furthermore, masculinity had a significant effect on men, Muslims and polygamous households. Conclusion To address low vaccination uptake in sub-Saharan Africa, context-sensitive strategies are required that incorporate gender norms, counter misinformation, and engage fathers.

Abstract Life Writing as a »Mouthpiece for Experience«. Arendt’s Critique of Worldless Self-Reflection in her Biography of Rahel Varnhagen This article traces Hannah Arendt’s thoughts in her biography of Rahel Varnhagen by exploring Varnhagen’s experiences with social exclusion. Arendt’s biography of Varnhagen shows a critique of a worldless self-reflection as well as the concepts of pariah and parvenu that are significant for her later works. Finally, the article discusses the meaning of Arendt’s approach to the genre of life writing that can be understood as writing in dialogue.

Acute resistance exercise (RE) has been shown to improve executive function (EF), but its effects at different intensities on specific EF domains (e.g., inhibition, working memory) and underlying brain mechanisms (i.e., brain hemodynamics) remain unclear. Forty-two young, active, and healthy adults (mean age = 26.9 ± 0.8 years; 24 men) were randomly allocated to one of three experimental groups: 1) RE at high load (HRE) (75 % of 1RM), 2) RE at moderate load (MRE) (50 % of estimated of 1RM) and 3) a resting control condition (CON). Participants completed Stroop and N-back tasks (i.e., measuring inhibition and working memory) to assess EF at three time points: pre-exercise, post-exercise (Post), and 45 min post-exercise (Post45). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to determine changes in brain hemodynamics during cognitive testing. HRE produced small to moderate improvements in Stroop incongruent trial performance (d=0.40) and moderate gains on the 2-back working memory task (d=0.80 post), with smaller improvements on the 1-back task. In comparison, MRE showed weaker effects on Stroop performance but moderate improvements on the 2-back task (d=0.65). HRE showed increases in right hemisphere oxygenated haemoglobin (O2Hb) across tasks, particularly under higher cognitive load (d = 0.65 in congruent Stroop trials). MRE induced smaller but notable O2Hb increases (d=0.35-0.54), whereas CON showed little or declining O2Hb levels. HRE was associated with greater improvements in EF, particularly inhibition and working memory, and was associated with stronger and more sustained functional brain hemodynamics changes compared to MRE.

Abstract The study provides an in-depth analysis of the role and contributions of Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector to national economic development. It argues that the ASM sector has evolved into a critical driver of inclusive economic growth and a vital source of livelihood for local populations. Accounting for approximately 40% of national gold production, the sector contributes substantially to foreign exchange earnings while generating millions of direct and indirect employment opportunities. Despite these positive contributions, the sector is also characterized by significant governance and environmental challenges. Substantial revenue losses occur through smuggling and illicit gold trading, depriving the government of essential resources required to finance public services and infrastructure development. Moreover, escalating environmental degradation, particularly the widespread pollution of water bodies remains an acute and persistent concern. This has increased the cost of water treatment by nearly sixfold in mining-affected areas and imposed additional social and health-related burdens on local communities. The study concludes that while Ghana may not conform to the classical characterization of a resource-curse economy, the dual challenges of illicit gold trading and environmental degradation significantly diminish the contributions of the ASM sector to national economic development. This underscores the need for effective regulatory enforcement and strengthened environmental governance to curb financial leakages and mitigate the ecological and social consequences associated with the sector.