ALBERT

Description: This final reply responds to Honohan’s invitation to articulate the Arendtian tone of the key-note paper. It spells out the philosophical intuition that the political life of citizens, at least potentially, is capable of making visible what makes human life worthwhile and fully meaningful, and the philosophical curiosity to see whether traces of this deep political awareness can be retrieved in dialogues with volunteers. In response to Dekker’s critical doubts, this final reply clarifies the central stakes of Claes’s paper. The core argument was not to show that the biographical model of meaningfulness is the prevailing approach of meaning in/of volunteering, but to assess the potentials and limits of the model’s interpretive power. Moreover, the paper argues for an alternative, existential model of meaningfulness. This approach refers to deep experiences of meaning that emerge from the practice of volunteering and that shift into powerful political experiences of hope, and a lived sense of equality.

Description: This research focuses on the effects of different business process management components in combination with information technology on recruiting process performance. The results of a study of Germany’s largest 1,000 business enterprises (response rate 13.1 %) reveal that business process analysis, business process improvement and the usage of applicant tracking systems reduce recruiting process costs. Specifically, the cycle time of the recruiting process can be shortened significantly through business process controlling and process analysis, and by using an applicant tracking system that supports the design and evaluation of key performance indicators. Business process standardization combined with applicant tracking systems and business process documentation as well these systems used together with business process controlling have a significant positive impact on stakeholder satisfaction with the recruiting process. The general quality of the process can be improved through business process controlling as well as through a combination of applicant tracking systems and business process controlling. Our results reveal that several components of the business process management in conjunction with a supporting applicant tracking system have differing impacts on recruiting process performance. This paper discusses these diverse effects of business process management on process performance and draws implications for information systems success research.

Description: In this paper, a mathematical model to petroleum derivatives transportation scheduling is developed. The problem discussed in this paper is concerned with the scheduling of one-source tree-structured pipeline connected to several output terminals. A tree-structured pipeline is composed of a mainline conveying high-volume of petroleum products over long ways and secondary lines transporting smaller volumes over shorter distances. In such a pipeline, batches of petroleum products are pumped back-to-back at the origin of the mainline, without any separation device between them. This paper introduces a continuous mathematical representation, mixed integer linear programming, for the operational planning of tree-structured pipeline systems. Previous contributions on tree-structured pipeline planning deal with the sequence deliveries at receiving terminals, i.e., at any time only a unique terminal receives material from the pipeline. On the contrary, the proposed approach permits a receiving terminal on the mainline to simultaneously receive products when one of the secondary lines is taking material from the mainline. The problem’s aim is to find the optimal sequences of product injection and dispatching operations that satisfy product demands at minimum total cost, accounting for pumping and backordered demand costs during the specified planning horizon. The approach has been validated by solving three case studies of growing complexity.

Description: In this comment-response Mikael Lindfelt makes some suggestions to how one could develop the argument for wit(h)nessing as experiencing meaningfulness in life as put forward by Nicole Note and Emilie Van Deale. While being positive to the main phenomenological approach, and especially the dialectical relational aspect of the phenomenological argument, Lindfelt uses Alain Badiou’s talk of Event in trying both to develop the phenomenological argument and to point out some idealistic tendencies in the line of the argument. Lindfelt suggests that the aspect of uniqueness in the relational experience of the other should be taken to more radically than suggested by Note and Van Deale. By pointing out the dialectical fragility of the Event of wit(h)nessing Lindfelt is arguing for that the concept of respect could be more utilized in arguing for the experience of meaning seen as a gift.

Description: Distributors are faced with loading constraints in their route planning, e.g.,multi-dimensional packing constraints, unloading sequence constraints, stability constraints and axle weight limits. Ignoring these constraints impairs planning and induces last-minute changes resulting in additional costs. Developing vehicle routing models incorporating loading constraints is critical to more efficient route planning. The last couple of years has seen a huge increase of contributions to this field of research with almost 60 % of these being published after 2009. Our contribution is twofold. First, we overview the recent developments in the literature on all vehicle types in which loading constraints play a key role (trucks, airplanes, ships, and automated guided vehicles), using a state-of-the-art classification scheme to identify the loading constraints considered in each article. Second, we identify research gaps and opportunities for future research.

Description: Domänenspezifische Modellierungssprachen (engl.: “domain-specific modeling languages”, DSMLs) versprechen deutliche Vorteile gegenüber universellen Modellierungssprachen. Ihr Entwurf ist allerdings mit einer essentiellen Herausforderung verbunden. Um ansehnliche Skaleneffekte zu erreichen, empfiehlt sich die Entwicklung von DSMLs, die in einer größeren Nutzungsbandbreite einsetzbar sind. Gleichzeitig spricht der Gewinn an Modellierungsproduktivität im Einzelfall für Sprachkonzepte, die an individuelle Anforderungen angepasst sind. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein neuartiger Ansatz zur konzeptuellen Modellierung wie auch zur Konstruktion von Informationssystemen präsentiert, der durch die faktische Nutzung von Fachsprachen inspiriert ist – die Mehrebenen-Modellierung. Im Unterschied zu traditionellen Spracharchitekturen wie der „Meta Object Facility“ (MOF) basiert er auf einer rekursiven Architektur, die eine beliebige Zahl von Klassifikationsebenen ermöglicht und dadurch den Entwurf von Sprachhierarchien – von einer Referenz-DSML bis hin zu „lokalen“ DSMLs – erlaubt. Auf diese Weise wird nicht nur der essentielle Konflikt des Entwurfs von DSMLs deutlich entschärft, sondern auch die Wiederverwendung und Integration von Software-Komponenten im Allgemeinen gefördert. Zudem ermöglicht der Ansatz die Reduktion von Modellkomplexität, indem er die Dichotomie von Spezialisierung und Instanzierung teilweise aufhebt. Darüber hinaus integriert er eine Metamodellierungssprache mit dem Metamodell einer Metaprogrammiersprache, wodurch ausführbare Modelle ermöglicht werden. Die Spezifikation der Spracharchitektur wird ergänzt durch die Darstellung von Anwendungsszenarien, die die Potentiale der Mehrebenen-Modellierung verdeutlichen, sowie eine kritische Betrachtung ihrer Besonderheiten.

Description: This paper examines the technological, market, industry and institutional sources associated with the cross-national heterogeneity in e-retail spending. We used the economic theory of complementarities as the theoretical framework and estimated panel data models for 10 year data from 43 countries to test our hypotheses. We identified various activities and resources in the e-retail ecosystems that may produce positive or negative externalities in the development of the e-retail industry. We found that broadband Internet is an important determinant of an economy’s e-readiness in explaining international heterogeneity in e-retail spending. We also found various specific attributes of the traditional retail environment that produce enhancing effects as well as suppressing effects for e-retail spending.

Description: Kusuoka representations provide an important and useful characterization of law invariant coherent risk measures in atomless probability spaces. However, the applicability of these results is limited by the fact that such representations do not always exist in probability spaces with atoms, such as finite probability spaces. We introduce the class of functionally coherent risk measures, which allow us to use Kusuoka representations in any probability space. We show that this class contains every law invariant risk measure that can be coherently extended to a family containing all finite discrete distributions. Thus, it is possible to preserve the desirable properties of law invariant coherent risk measures on atomless spaces without sacrificing generality. We also specialize our results to risk measures on finite probability spaces, and prove a denseness result about the family of risk measures with finite Kusuoka representations.

Description: Earthquake usually causes grievous damages especially in the earthquake prone areas. Building a fast and effective relief system is very important. China Red Cross is the largest humanitarian organizations in China. To improve its disaster response system, reserving relief supplies gets more and more attentions. In this article, a decision making programming based on the data envelopment analysis method is proposed in the construction of reserve network for China Red Cross with three factors, including cost, risk and utility. Four warehouses are selected and the optimal allocation strategies are obtained under the principles of equity and effectiveness which should be obeyed in humanitarian assistance.

Description: Motion control of a single molecule through a solid-state nanopore offers a new perspective on detecting and analyzing single biomolecules. Repeat recapture of a single DNA molecule reveals the dynamics in DNA translocation through a nanopore and may significantly increase the signal-to-noise ratio for DNA base distinguishing. However, the transient current at the moment of voltage reversal prevents the observation of instantly recaptured molecules and invalidates the continuous DNA ping-pong control. We performed and analyzed the DNA translocation and recapture experiment in a silicon nitride solid-state nanopore. Numerical calculation of molecular motion clearly shows the recapture dynamics with different delay times. The prohibited time when the data acquisition system is saturated by the transient current is derived by equivalent circuit analysis and finite element simulation. The COMSOL simulation reveals that the membrane capacitance plays an important role in determining the electric field distribution during the charging process. As a result of the transient charging process, a non-constant driving force pulls the DNA back to nanopores faster than theoretically predicted. The observed long time constant in the transient current trace is explained by the dielectric absorption of the membrane capacitor.

Description: Plants have considerable hydrological and mechanical impacts on soil. However, there are lack of documentation and limited understanding on the hydrological and mechanical impacts of tropical legume trees. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the hydrological and mechanical properties of three selected legume plants, Leucaena leucocephala , Adenanthera pavonina and Peltophorum pterocarpum . Regarding hydrological aspect, the study results indicated that soil on which the L. leucocephala was grown had the highest transpiration rate, water absorption rate (WAR) and soil matric suction (SMS). In terms of mechanical characteristics, L. leucocephala exhibited the highest root tensile strength and cellulosic components in the root. Interestingly, L. leucocephala also showed a higher root biomass, root length and fine roots than A . pavonina and P. pterocarpum. The leaf area index (LAI) strongly correlated with SMS ( R 2  = 0.74), indicating that high LAI improved SMS. The high root tensile strength and fine roots of L. leucocephala make this species special for growing as a soil reinforcing plant. Overall results suggested that L. leucocephala exhibited outstanding hydrological and mechanical properties and can be a potential plant for the soil reinforcement program.

Description: We presented an integrated software system for analyzing nanopore data. This self-developed software provided rapid processes for accurate location, classification, and evaluation of every individual blockade. Using the proposed software, statistical analysis could be achieved easily and conveniently. The results of β -Amyloid 42 demonstrated that our data process could rapidly extract duration time and current amplitudes. In addition, our data process could accurately carry out statistical fittings.

Description: We investigate the impact of heterogeneity in the amount of incoming traffic routed by dispatchers in a non-cooperative load balancing game. For a fixed amount of total incoming traffic, we show that for a broad class of cost functions the worst-case social cost occurs when each dispatcher routes the same amount of traffic, that is, the game is symmetric. Using this result, we give lower bounds on the Price of Anarchy for (i) cost functions that are polynomial on server loads; and (ii) cost functions representing the mean delay of the shortest remaining processing time service discipline.

Description: We study the influences of new-firm start-ups on growth at the regional and macroeconomic level in France using a quarterly database over the 1993–2011 period. We find that fluctuations in GDP are an early indicator of new-firm start-ups. Nevertheless, the most important relationships are found between the unemployment rate and new-firm start-ups. Entrepreneurship is mainly driven by an unemployment “push” effect that have consequences upon the potential of growth of new-firm start-ups in most of the French regions. The Île-de France region is an exception since the “Schumpeter” effect prevails in the long term.

Description: Expanding entrepreneurial enterprises move from high-cost (congestion, wages and rent) locations where they innovated to low-cost (smaller, less agglomerated) places suitable for standardised production. Net inter-regional relocations of British SMEs are predicted in part by this development pattern. SMEs that relocate are more productive, relatively larger and younger, as well as more probably initially located in London and the South East (core locations). These fast-growing businesses become even more productive and employ even more workers after moving than regionally immobile SMEs. In this respect, the UK regional core supports the periphery through a market process. Relocation is also a strategy for contracting enterprises, but not necessarily a helpful for smaller companies.

Description: A novel phenol-linked bis(imidazolium) salt, H 3 LCl 2 (L =  O -4-C(CH 3 ) 3 -C 6 H 2 -2,6-di[CH 2 {C(NCHCHNAr)}] 2 , Ar = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl, 1 ), was designed and used to prepare an ionic iron(III) complex [H 2 L][FeCl 4 ] ( 2 ). Complex 2 was a highly efficient catalyst for aryl Grignard cross-coupling of alkyl chlorides bearing β-hydrogens. Furthermore, complex 2 was reusable and could be reused in at least eight times without significant loss in catalytic activity.

Description: Vertically aligned TiO 2 nanotube arrays (~8 μm long, ~110 nm wide) have been fabricated through anodic oxidation of Ti-metal sheet in fluoride-containing electrolyte. By changing the volume ratio of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol in the electrolyte, TiO 2 nanotube arrays with different tube-to-tube lateral spacing, i.e., closely packed, just separated, and fully separated, have been synthesized and applied as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Photovoltaic efficiency of 2.99 %, 3.34 %, and 3.44 % has been obtained for DSSCs based on the closely packed, just separated, and fully separated TiO 2 nanotube arrays, respectively, illustrating the effect of tube-to-tube lateral spacing of TiO 2 nanotube arrays on the performances of DSSCs. It is suggested that fully separated TiO 2 nanotube arrays are beneficial to the conversion efficiency of DSSCs due to higher dye loading and faster electron transfer.

Description: Vegetation phenology is an important indicator of climate change impacts on the seasonal dynamics of the biosphere. However, little is known about the influence of elevation on spring phenological sensitivity to temperature in an alpine ecosystem. Based on remotely sensed land surface phenology and temperature data from 2001 to 2010, this study investigated the rate of spring phenological change of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) grasslands in response to interannual temperature variations at different elevations. Results suggest that spring phenology in the TP grasslands exhibits a stronger response to changes in temperature at higher elevations than at lower ones. In particular, spring phenology advanced by 1–2 days in response to a 1 °C increase in May average temperature at elevations from 3,000 to 3,500 m, while the rate was up to 8–9 days/°C at 5,000–5,500 m. Analysis using accumulated growing degree days (AGDD) from January 1 through May 31 showed the same general trend with increased elevation associated with increased sensitivity (as measured by phenological change per unit of AGDD change). Such temperature sensitivity gradients in the TP grasslands could be partly explained by the growth efficiency hypothesis which suggests that vegetation adapted to colder climates likely requires less heat energy for the onset of growing season and vice versa in warmer climates. Furthermore, accumulated growing degree days from January 1 to the greenup date were found to decrease with increasing elevations, which provided evidence to support the applicability of the growth efficiency hypothesis in an alpine grassland ecosystem.

Description: A gravity network with 302 observation points has been established in the western Sichuan Foreland Basin (SFB) to explore Bouguer gravity anomalies (BGAs). Our observational results reveal that the BGAs are negative as a whole, with a maximum value of −220 mGal (10 −5 m s −2 ) at the northwest region of the study area. The real Moho depths beneath the SFB revealed by BGA data change smoothly from 39.5 km in the southeast to 43.7 km in the northwest of the monitoring region. However, the isostatic ones deduced from Airy isostatic model and topographical data vary approximately 39.5–42.0 km. The maximum differences of 2.7 km between the real and isostatic Moho depths are found near the seismic gap between the M 8.0 Wenchuan and M 7.0 Lushan earthquakes, where the crust is in the greatest isostatic imbalance of the monitoring region. Analysis of the isostatic state indicates that the deep dynamic environment near the seismic gap between these two earthquakes indicates an M  ≥ 7.0 earthquake in the future. This study indicates that we can use isostasy as a potential approach to study the dynamic process of crustal material movement and to analyze regional potential seismic risks.

Description: Climate change is considered a top threat to biodiversity, but the relative roles of contemporary climate versus the rate of climate change in determining spatial patterns of biodiversity are far from clear. China has a very diverse flora and harbors a high percentage of endemic species, but the mechanisms underlying spatial patterns of plant endemism are poorly understood. This study explores the geographical patterns of a representative sample of 555 endemic seed plant species at the scale of 0.5° latitude × 0.5° longitude. Ordinary least squares and spatial autoregressive models were compared to assess the relationship between richness of endemics and the rate of climate change in the past century, as well as a group of contemporary climate variables. In China, a high level of endemism was associated with high elevation and low rate of climate change. However, contemporary climate had a stronger impact than climate change velocity in the past century on endemic species richness patterns. Specifically, mean annual precipitation and annual range of temperature were important contemporary climatic factors. The rate of change of annual mean temperature, but not that of annual precipitation, also significantly contributed to the spatial pattern of plant endemic species richness. We found no significant relationship between topographic variation and endemic species richness, while temperature variability at multiple time scales was strongly correlated with the species richness pattern. Future work should consider the direction of climate change and incorporate higher-resolution data.

Description: Widespread lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are valuable archives for investigating climate and environment changes, which could provide essential information on the mechanisms of past climate changes on the TP and their interaction with the global climate systems. However, there is a lack of in-depth investigation of modern limnological processes in the Tibetan lakes, which hampers the understanding of paleolimnological records and lake ecosystem succession. In this study, we performed continuous temperature monitoring at two lakes, Bangong Co, a freshwater lake in the western TP, and Dagze Co, a brackish lake in the central TP, in order to characterize the patterns of seasonal temperature variability, stratification, and mixing. Temperature data for an entire hydrological year demonstrate that Bangong Co is a dimictic lake and that Dagze Co is a meromictic lake. The higher salinity in the deep water at Dagze Co prevents the lake from overturning completely, and this finding is supported by simulations using a physical limnological model Lake Analyzer. Continuous lake water temperature monitoring provides fundamental data for classifying Tibetan lakes, as well as the hydrological basis for understanding their paleolimnological records and ecosystem succession.

Description: An 18-year long (1993–2011) comprehensive dataset of snow and meteorological variables from Col de Porte, France is used to analyze the variation of shortwave broadband albedo with elapsed time after snowfalls (snow aging) during each snow season. The effects of air temperature, snow surface temperature and snow depth on snow albedo are investigated. An index based on the accumulation of air temperature over several consecutive days with daily mean higher than 2.5 °C is proposed to divide each snow-covered period into a dry and the following wet snow season when this index reaches 18 °C. The results indicate that snow surface albedo decreases exponentially with time in both dry and wet snow seasons. Snow albedo reduction with snow aging is small at low surface temperature and the reduction rate increases with the rise of surface temperature. However, the reduction rate is widely scattered within the observed range of temperature, implying a loose relationship between snow albedo and snow surface temperature. Snow albedo in wet snow season is generally smaller and decreases faster than in dry snow season. For Col de Porte site, snow depths to effectively mask the underlying surface are 21 and 33 cm in dry and wet snow season respectively.

Description: The rareness and inhomogeneity of the data points cause difficulties in the reconstruction of past average temperature. Optimal regional averaging is a method that can overcome these difficulties and obtain the average temperature of target area by means of optimal weights using limited temperature data. In this paper, the average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere is calculated by the optimal regional averaging method using two types of data: temperature data from Climatic Research Unit from 1901 to 2000 and maximum latewood density dataset of tree from 1500 to 1949. Five, ten, fifteen data points from CRU and forty data points from MXD are used in our research. The results show that even with the relatively less data used in this reconstruction, the method allows the reconstruction of the average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere more accurately, which provides the temperature information for palaeoclimate reconstruction.

Description: Using in situ observations from THEMIS A, D and E during the 2008–2011 tail season, we present a statistical study of the evolution of pressure gradients in the near-Earth tail during bursty bulk flow (BBF) convection. We identified 138 substorm BBFs and 2,197 non-substorm BBFs for this study. We found that both the pressure and the B Z component of the magnetic field were enhanced at the arrival of BBFs at the spacecraft locations. We suggest that the increase of B Z during non-substorm BBFs is associated with flux pile-up. However, the much stronger enhancement of B Z during substorm BBFs implies the occurrence of magnetic field dipolarization which is caused by both the flux pile-up process and near-Earth current disruption. Furthermore, a bow-wave-like high pressure appears to be formed at the arrival of substorm BBFs, which is responsible for the formation of region-1-sense FACs. The azimuthal pressure gradient associated with the arrival of substorm BBFs lasts for about 5 min. The enhanced pressure gradient associated with the bow wave is caused by the braking and diversion of the Earthward flow in the inner plasma sheet. The results from this statistical study suggest that the braking and azimuthal diversion of BBFs may commonly create azimuthal pressure gradients, which are related to the formation of the FAC of the substorm current wedge.

Description: A series of novel imidazolium oxidative-thermoregulated bifunctional ionic liquids (ILs) have been synthesized by introducing the thermoregulated structural unit into imidazolium cation and using heteropolyanion as the anion of ILs. The structures of these new type of task-specific ionic liquids (TSILs) are characterized by FT-IR and 1 H NMR. The thermostability of ILs is analyzed by thermogravimetry. The thermoregulated properties of ILs in aqueous and organic solvents are mainly investigated. These ILs have the corresponding cloud points (CPs) in aqueous. The effects of IL concentration, polymerization degree, inorganic additives and organic additives on the CP are studied. IL/DMF/ n -heptane or n -octane biphasic system has the corresponding critical solution temperature (CST), and has the feature of “homogeneous at high temperature, heterogeneous at low temperature”. The effects of IL dosage and polymerization degree on the CST are given. IL/DMF/ n -octane thermoregulated biphasic system has been successfully applied for catalytic oxidative desulfurization of model fuels. This study opens up a new way for catalytic oxidation to achieve an integration of homogeneous catalysis and heterogeneous separation.

Description: High-rate GPS data from the United States continuously operating reference stations in the Alaska region are processed using the recently developed precise point positioning (PPP) technique. The traditional PPP technique does not fix ambiguities into their integers because these ambiguities do not have an integer nature when data from a single receiver, as well as precise orbit and clock corrections, are used. Additional corrections, i.e., uncalibrated phase delay (UPD), are needed to fix integer ambiguities and consequently improve positioning accuracy. This study proposes a methodology to compute for wide-lane and L2 (the second L-band frequency) UPDs using the geometry-based model and subsequently applies these parameters to the computation for ambiguity-fixed solutions. The instantaneous displacements of near-field sites, as well as the permanent deformations after the earthquake, are therefore obtained for the January 5, 2013, Alaska earthquake. The real-time performance of PPP solutions are assessed by considering realistic data latency and data interval of corrections. Ambiguity-fixed solutions are compared with ambiguity-float ones. The comparison shows that the positioning accuracy can be improved significantly when the ambiguities are fixed correctly. The solutions using the real-time corrections are also compared with those using post-processing corrections, i.e., Center for Orbit Determination in Europe final orbit and clock. Although the accuracy is somehow degraded because of the data latency and data interval, the real-time results are satisfactory for use in monitoring the small-scale deformation (1–2 cm) caused by the Alaska earthquake. In addition, the kinematic ambiguity-fixed PPP solutions for 7 days around the earthquake are calculated to obtain permanent pre- and post-earthquake deformations. The deformations computed from real-time and post-processing corrections do not appear to be significantly different.

Description: Investigation of temporal variations in the stable δ 18 O and δ D isotopes from Kathmandu’s precipitation events shows that the relatively enriched δ 18 O and δ D values in the winter (the dry season, dominated by the westerlies) were positively correlated with temperature, indicating a temperature effect controlling the changes of δ 18 O and δ D. However, the δ 18 O and δ D values were depleted in the summer (the wet season, dominated by the Indian monsoon), which were negatively correlated with precipitation amount, indicating an amount effect. In addition, the comparison of stable isotopes in precipitation from Kathmandu and Mawlong (near the Bay of Bengal) shows that the overall trends of δ 18 O and δ D values at Kathmandu generally approximate those at Mawlong. However, there remain many differences between the details of the isotopic changes at Kathmandu versus those at Mawlong. Compared with those at Mawlong, the further rainout effect and the more intense lift effect of the oceanic moisture by the high mountains resulted in the more depleted δ 18 O and δ D values in summer precipitation at Kathmandu. A deuterium excess and the local meteoric water lines reveal that evaporation at Kathmandu exceeds that at Mawlong. The data also show that the Indian monsoon activities at Mawlong are more intense than those at Kathmandu.

Description: Occlusion of carbon (C) within phytoliths (PhytOC) is becoming one of the most promising terrestrial C sequestration mechanisms. This study explored the production of PhytOC within 35 bamboo species belonging to three ecotypes using methods of microwave digestion. The aim of this study is to explore the present and potential C sequestration rate within phytoliths of bamboo species from three ecotypes. PhytOC content in bamboos of three ecotypes ranges from 0.07 % to 0.42 %. The mean PhytOC production flux decreases as: clustered bamboo (0.050 ± 0.016 t CO 2 ha −1  a −1 ) ≈ mixed bamboo (0.049 ± 0.016 t CO 2 ha −1  a −1 ) 〉 scattered bamboo (0.038 ± 0.020 t CO 2 ha −1  a −1 ). The phytolith carbon sequestration in Chinese bamboo is estimated to be 0.293 ± 0.127 Tg (1 Tg = 10 12  g) CO 2 a −1 ; approximately 75 %, 3 %, and 22 % of which is contributed from scattered, mixed and clustered bamboo, respectively. Taking the PhytOC production flux of 0.18 ± 0.12 t CO 2 ha −1  a −1 and current annual area increasing rate of 3 %, global bamboo phytoliths would sequester 11.9 ± 7.9 Tg CO 2 a −1 by 2050. Consequently, bamboo forests have significant potential to mitigate the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO 2 by maximizing PhytOC production flux and expanding bamboos.

Description: N-type Si (111) wafers have been processed by high-current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB) treatment with an increasing number of irradiation (1, 10 and 20 pulses). The results of this work show that a highly porous nanostructure was formed after irradiation. Moreover, the high-density Si nanocrystals (Si-ncs) about 3 nm were distributed on the surface of Si wafers and exhibited 3.02 eV Photoluminescence (PL) emission in blue band. The PL intensity increases with the increase in the Si-ncs’ density in accordance with the quantum confinement model, which can be ascribed to the different pulse time of HCPEB treatment. The possible formation mechanisms of micropores and Si-ncs are discussed.

Description: The effective adsorption capability of a hydrogenated graphene (H-Gr) was demonstrated. The H-Gr was firstly prepared by heating graphene (Gr) in a hydrogen flow at 1,000 °C. The specific surface area, layer number, zeta potential, surface defects, surface compounds groups and elemental ratio of H-Gr were investigated. Taking 2,4-dichlorophenol as a target pollutant, the adsorption ability of H-Gr was evaluated. The results showed that the adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order equation well. For the adsorption isotherms, the equilibrium data of H-Gr were found to fit to Langmuir model, which was different from the Freundlich model of Gr. The adsorption capacity of H-Gr was high to 287.01 mg/g, almost three times as much as that of Gr, which was benefit from the increase of specific surface area and zeta potential. This work suggests that H-Gr may be a potential candidate for the adsorption of aromatic compounds from water and has great prospect for practical application.

Description: Two consecutive magnetic flux ropes, separated by less than 30 s ( Δt  〈 30 s), are observed within one magnetic reconnection diffusion region without strong guide field in the Earth’s magnetotail by Cluster multi-spacecraft. The flux ropes are characterized by bipolar signatures of the south–north magnetic field component B z accompanied with strong core magnetic field B y , intense current J and density depletions inside of them. In spite of the small but non-trivial global scale negative guide field (– B y ), there exists a directional change of the core fields of two flux ropes, i.e., − B y for the first one, and + B y for the second one. The directions of the core fields are the same as the ambient cross-tail magnetic field component ( B y ) just outside of flux ropes. Therefore, we suggest that the core field of flux ropes is formed by compression of the local preexisting B y and that the directional change of core field is due to the change of local preexisting B y . Such a change in ambient B y might be caused by some microscale physics.

Description: In this work, a series of new metal phosphonates were hydrothermally synthesized and structurally characterized based on m -xylylenediphosphonic acids (H 4 L), including [M(H 2 L)(bpy)] (M = Mn 1 , Co 2 ), [MH 2 L)(phen)] (M = Co 3 , Cu 4 ), and [Cu 2 (H 2 L) 2 (bpy″) 2 ] 5 (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, bpy″ = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine). X-ray diffraction indicated that compounds 1 and 2 were isomorphic. Complexes 3 and 4 were shown to crystallize in different space groups but had similar crystallographic units. In the complexes, H 4 L was seen to partially deprotonate to afford H 2 L 2− . The H 2 L 2− ligands in 1 – 4 functioned as tetradentate ligands with each phosphonate group adopting bidentate coordination mode with two M centers to generate a 2D layer. In addition, the H 2 L 2− anions in 5 functioned as tridentate ligands with one phosphonate group adopting the bidentate mode and another phosphonate group adopti ng the monodentate mode, thus linking three Cu atoms to provide a 1D chain. The IR and thermal stabilities of these compounds were subsequently examined.

Description: Identifying melts of thickened lower continental crust from high Sr/Y rocks is very important to trace deep crustal processes. Recent studies on Dabie Early Cretaceous granitoids have revealed that melts derived from thickened lower continental crust have higher Sr/CaO ratios and define a high Sr evolution trend compared with normal granitoids. Fractional crystallization of plagioclase can significantly change Sr and CaO contents of melts, but its role in controlling the Sr/CaO ratios of the melts is still unclear. This study gives a direct comparison of plagioclase compositions between normal granitoids and low-Mg adakitic rocks. On the basis of Sr–Ca exchange partition coefficient, discussions on effect of plagioclase crystallization on Sr/CaO ratios of melts show that fractional crystallization of abundant plagioclase cannot significantly change Sr/CaO ratios of granitic melts, which are inherited from their individual initial melts. High Sr/CaO ratios indicate the absence of plagioclase in sources of granitic melts. Therefore, high Sr/CaO correlation can be an important indicator to identify melts derived from thickened lower continental crust.

Description: Mobile Health (m-Health) system architectures are typically based on mobile and wireless communications, and use mobile devices with data exchange supported by Web Services. Although m-Health systems offer mobility as a potential and precious resource they also present several challenged issues and constraints, such as, battery and storage capacity, broadcast constraints, interferences, disconnections, noises, limited bandwidths, and network delays. Furthermore, constant mobility and often-required Internet connectivity also exposes and compromises the privacy and confidentiality of the m-Health system information. This paper proposes a novel data encryption solution for mobile health systems, considering a novel and early-proposed cooperation strategy. This encryption solution, tries to guarantee the best confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of m-Health systems users data. The paper also presents a performance evaluation study comparing the performance an m-Health application with and without the DE4MHA.

Description: The growing need to innovate with IT requires well-founded analysis of IT innovation investments. However, the time lag between such investments and the realization of an uncertain long-term value contribution challenges companies because of a conflict between short-term corporate management and the desire to maximize the company’s long-term company value. Complexity, inexperience, and high outcome uncertainty also make IT innovation investments risky, particularly as the investments relate to existing hardware, software, and human resources, and can affect the processes, products, and services of nearly every business unit in a company. This paper proposes an integrated long- and short-term valuation approach that incorporates an IT innovation investment’s effect on the value of a company’s IT portfolio. The approach simultaneously accounts for risks and interdependencies, and uses sensitivity analysis in the context of an application example to provide research and practice recommendations.

Description: Modern macroeconomics has failed in the analysis of both the US banking and the euro crises, respectively, and there is also a rather inadequate view on a range of relevant policy issues. The approach presented herein looks at the reasons for analytical failure and suggests means of improvement – picking up proposals from the literature as well as contributing new ones. The economics profession did not anticipate the banking crisis and there is reluctance to switch to a new paradigm for stabilization policy analysis. Beyond this, there are several analytical challenges which should be integrated into a post-crisis approach: for example, the question of the true degree of economic openness and the role of multinational companies. Moreover, the macroeconomic impact of the digital economic expansion is largely underestimated. The traditional view on asset bubbles has become doubtful. A new paradigm should emphasize the triple analytical challenge of short-term financial market analysis, the routine new questioning of the systemic stability of economic systems and standard macroeconomic modeling – with some refinements; a “Schumpeterian Mundell-Fleming-Solow-Akerlof-model” and sustainability aspects are important on the one hand, on the other hand NKM models have to integrate a broader array of market imperfections. The perspectives presented could jump-start a new paradigm that combines a more realistic macro perspective with a complementary critical institutional analysis.

Description: In the present study, the Ti-in-biotite geothermometer was revised using more than 300 natural rutile- or ilmenite-bearing metapelites collected worldwide. The formulation was empirically calibrated as \( \ln [T\,(^\circ {\text{C}})] = 6.313 + 0.224\ln (X_{\text{Ti}} ) - 0.288\ln (X_{\text{Fe}} ) - 0.449\ln (X_{\text{Mg}} ) + 0.15P\,({\text{GPa}}) \) , with \( X_{j} = {{j}}/({\text{Fe}} + {\text{Mg}} + {\text{Al}}^{\text{VI}} + {\text{Ti}}) \) in biotite, assuming ferric iron content of 11.6 mol% of the total iron in biotite. This thermometer is consistent with the well-calibrated garnet–biotite thermometer within error of ±50 °C for most of the calibrant samples and can successfully distinguish systematic temperature changes of different metamorphic zones in both prograde and inverted metamorphic terranes as well as thermal contact aureoles. Thus, the thermometer truthfully reflects real geologic conditions and can be applied to TiO 2 -saturated metapelites metamorphosed at the crustal level within the calibration ranges (450–840 °C, 0.1–1.9 GPa, X Ti  = 0.02–0.14 in biotite).

Description: The explosion of health-related costs in U.S. firms over more than a decade is a huge concern for managers. The initiation of Health and Safety (H&S) programs at the firm level is an adequate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative to contain this evolution. However, in spite of their documented efficiency, firms underinvest in those programs. This appears as a puzzle for health economists. In this paper, we uncover a strong negative relation of financial leverage to the implementation of H&S programs. The negative impact of debt on investment and CSR activities is generally interpreted as an efficient disciplinary effect of debt on managers. H&S are particularly well suited to revisit this evidence, given their strong profitability and homogeneity across firms. Very interestingly, the negative effect is stronger for firms with high free cash flows, for which debt is used to prevent overinvestment. This strongly suggests that debt, while disciplining managers, also discourages investments which are valuable both for firms and society.

Description: This introductory article starts by describing the genesis of this special issue and the interconnection of its topics. The editors offer a variety of reading entries into the key-note articles and responses. The article reconstructs the research interests underpinning the idea of integrating meaningfulness, volunteers and citizenship. It highlights the explicit interdisciplinary design of the special issue, and shows how the key-note authors, and their respondents, weave connections between meaningfulness, volunteering and citizenship. And, finally, the editors bring the background understandings of the key-note papers to the foreground, and reconstruct a non-intentional meta-level discussion on two fundamental concepts and their interplay: self and world.

Description: This article argues, firstly, that voluntary civic practices are not doomed to fall prey to a Big Society rhetoric and a cynical politics of cuts in social spending. It all depends on how these civic practices are promoted and what kind of civic discourse is communicated through the channels of social media and public opinion. Secondly, the author highlights the political importance of connecting meaningfulness with citizenship.

Description: This paper draws on an in-depth phenomenological analysis of some interviews taken from volunteers, inviting them to reflect on their lived experiences of meaningfulness in the context of volunteering and citizenship. It is found that while some testimonies reinforce the standard conceptions of meaningfulness, other testimonies vary from it. The main challenge of this contribution consists in phenomenologically describing this alternative picture of meaningfulness, depicted as the event of wit(h)nessing. In a final part, the authors consider how volunteering is at times especially prone to further experiences of wit(h)nessing.

Description: Purpose The goal of this study is to analyze the environmental improvement brought about by an alternative system for waste management proposed by the Integral-b project, funded by the European Union (EU). Its aim is to treat both used cooking oil (UCO) and organic waste from the restaurant and catering sector in Spain, by biodiesel production and anaerobic digestion, respectively. A cogeneration engine adapted to use glycerin as a fuel is implemented. Methods The functional unit (FU) is the management of the UCO and organic waste from restaurants and catering produced per person and year in Spain. The system proposed (scenario A) is compared to a system consisting of the prevailing management options for the same kind of waste (scenario B). Apart from including biodiesel production from the UCO, this reference scenario assumes that the organic waste is allocated to different streams, according to Spanish statistics. The systems under study generate different coproducts and as such are complex; therefore, system expansion is performed. Different scenario formulations are set to analyze the influence of assumptions regarding coproduct credits in the results. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to analyze parameter uncertainty. Results and discussion The environmental benefits caused by scenario A are conditional on the choices regarding coproduct credits. Scenario A causes a reduction of the impact (43–655 %) in most of the scenario formulations when the current levels of UCO collection are considered. However, when higher levels of UCO collection are taken into account for the definition of the FU, scenario B performs better for half of the scenario formulations, due to the increase in the environmental credits from glycerin production. The only impact categories for which scenario A performs unconditionally better than scenario B are global warming and photochemical ozone creation. Parameter uncertainty appears to influence the comparative results to a lesser extent, mainly caused by the parameters involved in avoided processes. Conclusions Although system expansion appears as an option for dealing with the multifunctionality of waste management processes, uncertainty caused by choices must be assessed. Under our scenario assumptions, re-using the glycerol in the system proposed by Integral-b can be detrimental, and the reference scenario results in higher avoided burdens in some scenario formulations. Including glycerin valorization in scenario B should be considered if the biodiesel production keeps increasing in Spain. Analyzing parameter uncertainty helps to provide reliable results.

Description: This paper explores the strategies organizations use to demonstrate their accountability for biodiversity and legitimize their impact in this area through the use of techniques of neutralization. Neutralization aims to manage stakeholder impressions on very socially sensitive issues. Based on the content analysis of 148 sustainability reports from mining organizations, the study sheds light on the successful use of rhetoric in reports on non-measurable and potentially unaccountable issues. Specifically, the study shows that mining organizations use four main techniques of neutralization when they explain their impact on biodiversity. When they address stakeholders, they defend their social legitimacy and environmental responsiveness using one of the four techniques: they claim of a net positive or neutral impact on biodiversity, they deny that they have a significant impact, they distance themselves from the impact of their actions, and they play down their responsibilities. The study contributes to the literature on corporate sustainability and accounting for stakeholders. It focuses on under-researched issues such as the management of biodiversity and the tactics used to rationalize negative impacts. The study also bridges the gap between theories about organizational legitimacy, impression management, and techniques of neutralization.

Description: Purpose Phase change materials (PCMs) hold considerable promise for thermal energy storage and reduction of temperature swings in building space, and can reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources for both heating and cooling. Previous studies have evaluated the use of PCMs for energy storage and provided some limited information on the embodied energy of the PCM; however, an important factor that has not fully been addressed until now is the environmental impact of preparation of organic PCMs. This study presents life cycle assessments (LCAs) of two organic, biosourced PCMs for their applications, focusing on embodied energy and CO 2 emissions. Methods Dodecanoic acid produced from palm kernel oil was considered as a PCM for use in a solar thermal water heating application, and ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae was considered for thermal buffering. The functional units were defined as 1 t of dodecanoic acid PCM and 1 kg of encapsulated ethyl hexadecanoate PCM, respectively. The LCA encompasses all phases in the PCM production: growth and harvesting of the feedstocks, extraction of the oil, treatment of the oil, and separation of singular components. The two PCMs were evaluated in terms of the payback times for their embodied energies and embodied CO 2 under a modeled use phase. Results and discussion The energy payback time for dodecanoic acid in a solar thermal application was found to be less than 2 years. Although production of dodecanoic acid is a net CO 2 emitter, use of this PCM in a solar thermal system can recoup the CO 2 of production in less than a year. Ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae, considered for use in a thermal buffering wallboard product, would require at least 30 years of use before its energy savings would match its embodied energy, mostly due to the drying step in the production of the PCM. However, ethyl hexadecanoate is a strong sequester of CO 2 at 7.6 t per ton of ethyl hexadecanoate. Conclusions Dodecanoic acid produced from palm kernel oil for use in a solar thermal hot water system appears to be a viable PCM. Its payback time, both for energy and carbon emissions, is under 3 years. On the other hand, the high embodied energy of ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae gives a prohibitively long payback time for use in domestic thermal buffering applications.

Description: Purpose Current comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies claim to answer whether it is better or worse for the environment to change from old to new systems. Most commonly, the attributional LCA (ALCA) is practised despite its limitations to describe market effects. Hence, an attempt is done here to include market effects in the ALCA practice for comparisons in order to improve ALCA. The purpose is neither to investigate which LCA concept, ALCA, consequential LCA or decisional LCA, is the best for comparisons nor which is the best for decision-making. Methods Here, for the first time, a method based on marked changes which can be used for sensitivity checks of comparative ALCAs, advanced ALCA (AALCA) is presented. The new concept of global change mix factors (GCMF) is introduced. The method, based on accessible market data, is applied to previous comparative ALCAs of conductive adhesives, cooling modules used in radio base stations, office computing systems, as well as personal devices usage, here represented by multifunctional smartphones replacing other devices such as digital cameras. Results and discussion The results show that AALCA based on market data improves the understanding and can act as a sensitivity check of comparative ALCA results. For declining markets of products, with relatively high eco-environmental impacts, the difference between comparative AALCA and ALCA can be significant. As AALCA is founded in marginal electricity thinking and uses market data, there are similarities between AALCA and simplistic consequential LCA (CLCA). However, AALCA is not intended to replace CLCA or decisional LCA (DLCA). Conclusions By applying allocation factors, GCMF, based on real or future market changes, the interdependence of global markets and micro-level LCA shifts can be taken into account in comparative micro-level ALCA studies and make them more robust. Further, the sensitivity of using price units instead of physical units, as the basis for the GCMF, should be investigated. The degree to which AALCA and CLCA can complement each other should be examined. Also, the degree to which the GCMF used in AALCA-H address rebound effects should be further explored. The annual eco-environmental impacts of mobile devices towards 2020 are also of interest, and more LCA case studies are welcome.

Description: The paper documents the post-war retrenchment and failure of the post-war British Consumer Co-operative Movement. In contrast to the general failure one CEO, Terry Thomas stands out both for his success in co-operative rebranding and returning to profitability the UK Co-operative Bank and because he alone amongst the top echelons of the Co-operative Groups Management based his strategies on a clearly articulated philosophy based on his understanding of the values and purpose of the co-operative movement rooted in its historical traditions grounded in the writings and achievements of Robert Owen, The paper goes on to provide a case study of the bank’s process of transformation from loss-making subsidiary to the first positive co-operative national brand in the post-war period of its history. The author argues that lack of appropriate vision based on the founding values and purposes of the Co-operative Movement is the principal reason for the management’s and governance failures that have beset the UK Co-operative Group. Instead of using the past to help in understanding the present and planning for the future, the UK Co-operative Group Leadership ignored it or worse used the past successes to congratulate itself and disguise its manifest failures. In this, they were supported by an uncritical Co-operative Union (later renamed Co-operatives UK). Davis argues large co-operatives cannot be managed by a civil service responsible to an elected board. Co-operatives need a servant-leadership model of professional management dedicated to the transformational goals set by the founders of the co-operative movement. This needs a radical rethink and promotion of co-operative management education and a dedicated executive recruitment that seeks out value-based professionals whose attitudes and values are compatible with Co-operative values, ownership and purpose.

Description: While most studies dealing with waste reduction at the consumer level focus on recycling, this paper rather concentrates on precycling strategies and purchasing behaviors in order to understand how to promote waste reduction at the source. More specifically, the purpose of this work is to grasp consumers’ perceptions of overpackaging and understand the mechanisms underlying their choice of overpackaged versus non-overpackaged food products. Based on the different themes that emerged from a qualitative study (study 1, n  = 11), a quantitative research was conducted among French interviewees (study 2, n  = 327) in order to identify relevant groups of consumers. Five profiles emerged from the cluster analysis: the supporters, the self-sacrificing, the detractors, the indifferent, and the self-centered. Finally, an experiment was conducted (study 3, n  = 808) that highlights the influence of range positioning and salience of non-overpackaging on consumer choice. Implications for public policy makers and companies are discussed.

Description: The notion of shared value presents business with a challenge: to generate social benefit and profit simultaneously. This challenge involves resolving tensions/paradoxes inherent when integrating the apparent contradictory elements of social and economic values. Unfortunately, resolving such tensions is difficult due to the habitual, automatic nature of sensemaking. This paper offers a mechanism whereby individuals can, over time, begin to overcome habitual sensemaking and potentially resolve tensions inherent in shared value. The mechanism is labeled inner knowledge creation (IKC). IKC is described and its role in creating shared value for businesses is illustrated through a conceptual model. The model shows how IKC develops metacognitive capabilities, builds capacities to resolve tensions/paradoxes, and cultivates openness to others’ perspectives.

Description: We develop and use an integrated individual-level model to explain the driving forces behind digital piracy (DP) practice in two nations. The proposed model combines the Norm Activation model and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology models. This study also explores the effect of culture on intention (INT) to practice DP in two nations: US (individualistic) and India (collectivistic). A survey instrument was used to collect data from 231 US and 331 Indian participants. Use of the integrated model proves to be a powerful and a viable approach to understanding DP across cultures. In each nation, all 10 path coefficients on the research model are statistically significant thereby establishing the fact that personal norm, together with other factors, influences INT to engage in DP, which in turn, may influence the actual practice. The results reveal a support for cross-cultural generalizability and applicability of the proposed model. Culture clearly plays a strong moderating role in two out of the three paths tested. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Description: While research has focused on why certain entrepreneurs elect to create innovative solutions to social problems, very little is known about why some social entrepreneurs choose to scale their solutions while others do not. Research on scaling has generally focused on organizational characteristics often overlooking factors at the individual level that may affect scaling decisions. Drawing on the multidimensional construct of moral intensity, we propose a theoretical model of ethical decision making to explain why a social entrepreneur’s perception of moral intensity of the social problem, coupled with their personal desire for control, can significantly influence scaling decisions. Specifically, we propose that higher levels of perceived moral intensity will positively influence the likelihood of scaling through open as opposed to closed modes in order to achieve greater speed and scope of social impact. However, we also propose this effect will be negatively moderated by a social entrepreneur’s higher levels of desire for control. Our model has implications for research and practice at the interface of ethics and social entrepreneurship.

Description: In this paper we consider coalition configurations (Albizuri et al. in Games Econ Behav 57:1–17,  2006 ), that is, families of coalitions not necessarily disjoint whose union is the grand coalition, and give a generalization of the Shapley value (Contributions to the theory of games II, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 307–317,  1953 ) and the Owen value (Essays in mathematical economics and game theory, Springer, Berlin, pp 76–88,  1977 ) when coalition configurations form. This will be an alternative definition to the one given by Albizuri et al.

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Privacy- und Securityvorfälle stellen eine ernsthafte Bedrohung für den Erfolg eines Unternehmens dar. Während frühere Untersuchungen sich hauptsächlich auf Sekundäreffekte konzentriert haben (d. h. Kapitalmarktreaktionen in Folge von Privacy- und Security-Vorfällen), widmet sich diese Studie Primäreffekten und beleuchtet die direkte Kundenreaktion. In einem Laborexperiment wird zwischen dem Einfluss von Privacy- und Security-Vorfällen auf das Vertrauen und das Verhalten von Personen unterschieden. Es finden sich Hinweise auf das sogenannte Datenschutzparadoxon, wonach sich im Bereich des Datenschutzes die Intention vom Verhalten unterscheidet. Während Privacy sehr wichtig für die Vertrauensbildung ist, wirkt Security stärker auf das tatsächliche Verhalten. Nach den Ergebnissen dieser Studie bleibt die Lücke zwischen Intentionen und Verhalten auch nach dem Auftreten eines Datenschutzvorfalls bestehen.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Während sich die meisten wissenschaftlichen Studien zum Thema „Big Data“ mit den technischen Möglichkeiten zur Bewältigung von riesigen Datenmengen beschäftigen, sind empirische Untersuchungen in Bezug auf die von Fachleuten verlangten Kompetenzen für das Management and die Analyse von Big Data bislang noch nicht durchgeführt worden. Gleichzeitig diskutiert man in Wissenschaft und Praxis heftig über die Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten von Big Data (BD) einerseits und „traditionellem“ Business Intelligence (BI) andererseits. Der vorliegende Artikel beschreibt die Durchführung einer Latenten Semantischen Analyse (LSA) von Stellenanzeigen auf dem Online-Portal monster.com, um Informationen darüber zu gewinnen, welche Anforderungen Unternehmen an Fachkräfte in den Bereichen BD und BI stellen. Auf Basis einer Analyse und Interpretation der statistischen Ergebnisse der LSA wird eine Taxonomie von Kompetenzanforderungen für BD bzw. BI entwickelt. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der Untersuchung lauten: (1) für beide Bereiche, BD und BI, ist Businesswissen genauso wichtig wie technisches Wissen; (2) kompetent sein im Bereich BI bezieht sich vorwiegend auf Wissen und Fähigkeiten in Bezug auf die Produkte der großen kommerziellen Softwareanbieter, während im Bereich BD eher Wissen und die Fähigkeiten in Bezug auf die Entwicklung von Individualsoftware und die Anwendung statistischer Methoden im Vordergrund steht; (3) die Nachfrage nach Kompetenz im Bereich BI ist immer noch weitaus größer als die Nachfrage nach Kompetenz im Bereich BD; und (4) BD-Projekte sind gegenwärtig wesentlich humankapital-intensiver als BI-Projekte. Die Ergebnisse und Erkenntnisse der Studie können Praktikern, Unternehmen und wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen dabei helfen, ihre BD- bzw. BI-Kompetenz zu bewerten und zu erweitern.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Mit “Big Data” werden Technologien beschrieben, die nicht weniger als die Erfüllung eines der Kernziele der Wirtschaftsinformatik versprechen: die richtigen Informationen dem richtigen Adressaten zur richtigen Zeit in der richtigen Menge am richtigen Ort und in der erforderlichen Qualität bereitzustellen. Für die Wirtschaftsinformatik als anwendungsorientierte Wissenschaftsdisziplin entstehen durch solche technologischen Entwicklungen Chancen und Risiken. Risiken entstehen vor allem dadurch, dass möglicherweise erhebliche Ressourcen auf die Erklärung und Gestaltung von Modeerscheinungen verwendet werden. Chancen entstehen dadurch, dass die entsprechenden Ressourcen zu substanziellen Erkenntnisgewinnen führen, die dem wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt der Disziplin wie auch ihrer praktischen Relevanz dienen.〈/p〉 〈p〉Aus Sicht der Autoren ist die Wirtschaftsinformatik ideal positioniert, um Big Data kritisch zu begleiten und Erkenntnisse für die Erklärung und Gestaltung innovativer Informationssysteme in Wirtschaft und Verwaltung zu nutzen – unabhängig davon, ob Big Data nun tatsächlich eine disruptive Technologie oder doch nur eine flüchtige Modeerscheinung ist. Die weitere Entwicklung und Adoption von Big Data wird letztendlich zeigen, ob es sich um eine Modeerscheinung oder um substanziellen Fortschritt handelt. Die aufgezeigten Thesen zeigen darüber hinaus auch, wie künftige technologische Entwicklungen für den Fortschritt der Disziplin Wirtschaftsinformatik genutzt werden können. Technologischer Fortschritt sollte für eine kumulative Ergänzung bestehender Modelle, Werkzeuge und Methoden genutzt werden. Dagegen sind wissenschaftliche Revolutionen unabhängig vom technologischen Fortschritt.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Während die klassische Definition von Big Data ursprünglich nur die drei Größen Datenmenge (Volume), Datenrate (Velocity) und Datenvielfalt (Variety) umfasste, ist in jüngster Zeit der Wahrheitsgehalt (Veracity) als weitere Dimension mehr und mehr in den wissenschaftlichen und praktischen Fokus gerückt. Der noch immer wachsende Bereich der Sozialen Medien und damit verbundene benutzergenerierte Datenmengen verlangen nach neuen Methoden, die die enthaltene Datenunschärfe abschätzen und kontrollieren können. Dieser Beitrag widmet sich einem Aspekt der Datenunschärfe und stellt einen neuartigen Ansatz vor, der die Verlässlichkeit von benutzergenerierten Daten auf Basis von wiederkehrenden Mustern abschätzt. Zu diesem Zweck wird eine große Menge von Twitter-Statusnachrichten mit geographischer Standortinformation aus San Francisco untersucht und mit Points of Interest (POIs), wie beispielsweise Bars, Restaurants oder Parks, in Verbindung gebracht. Das vorgeschlagene Modell wird durch kausale Beziehungen zwischen Points of Interest und den in der Umgebung vorliegenden Twitter-Meldungen validiert. Weiterhin wird die zeitliche Dimension dieser Beziehung in Betracht gezogen, um so in Abhängigkeit der Art des POI wiederkehrende Muster zu identifizieren. Die durchgeführten Analysen münden in einem Indikator, der die Verlässlichkeit von vorliegenden Daten in räumlicher und zeitlicher Dimension abschätzt.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Datenzentrische Ansätze wie Big Data und verwandte Ansätze im Bereich Business Intelligence und Analytics (BI&A) haben in jüngster Zeit viel Aufmerksamkeit auf sich gezogen, da sie versprechen – basierend auf neuen geschäftsrelevanten Erkenntnissen und besseren Entscheidungen – die Leistungsfähigkeit von Unternehmen stark zu verbessern. Die Einbeziehung datenzentrischer Ansätze in die Entscheidungsprozesse von Unternehmen ist herausfordernd und es ist nicht selbstverständlich, dass die erwarteten Nutzen auch realisiert werden. Frühere Studien haben einen mangelnden Forschungsfokus auf den Kontext von Entscheidungsprozessen in datenzentrischen Ansätzen festgestellt. Mittels eines multiplen Fallstudienansatzes werden im vorliegenden Aufsatz unterschiedliche Typen von BI&A-gestützten Entscheidungsprozessen untersucht und die drei folgenden Beiträge gemacht. Erstens wird gezeigt, wie die Facetten von Big Data und verschiede Kompositionen von Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung in unterschiedlichen Typen von BI&A-gestützten Entscheidungsprozessen genutzt werden. Zweitens werden neue Erkenntnisse über organisatorische Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung und ihre komplementäre Beziehung zu datenzentrischen Mechanismen zur Theorie der Informationsverarbeitung beigetragen. Drittens wird demonstriert, wie die Theorie der Informationsverarbeitung angewendet werden kann, um die Dynamik der Komposition von Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung über verschiedene Entscheidungstypen hinweg zu bewerten. Abschließend werden die theoretischen und praktischen Implikationen der Studie diskutiert.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Die starke Verbreitung von Angeboten, die Nachfrager in ihrem Alltag unterstützen, führt innerhalb der Forschung zu einer zunehmenden Auseinandersetzung mit den Nutzungsprozessen der Nachfrager. Eine theoretische Grundlage für diese Auseinandersetzung bietet die Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing. Sie geht davon aus, dass die eigentliche Nutzenentfaltung für einen Nachfrager nicht durch den bloßen Produktbesitz, sondern erst im Nutzungsprozess in Form von Value-in-Use entsteht. Bislang existiert jedoch keine allgemein anerkannte Methode, mit deren Hilfe sich Nutzungsprozesse erfassen und im Hinblick auf den Value-in-Use analysieren lassen. Im Beitrag wird daher eine Methode zur Erfassung des Value-in-Use vorgeschlagen. Hierzu wird auf die Repertory-Grid-Methode zurückgegriffen, welche gemäß den zugrundeliegenden theoretischen Annahmen adaptiert und im Rahmen einer qualitativen Studie zur Smartphone-Nutzung empirisch getestet wird. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse ermöglichten die Erarbeitung einer spezifischen Value-in-Use-Skala. Eine quantitative Studie validierte diese abschließend. Die adaptierte Repertory-Grid-Methode wird folglich als ein vielversprechender Ansatz zur Erfassung von Nutzungsprozessen und dem dabei entstehenden Value-in-Use betrachtet.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Domänenspezifische Modellierungssprachen (engl.: “domain-specific modeling languages”, DSMLs) versprechen deutliche Vorteile gegenüber universellen Modellierungssprachen. Ihr Entwurf ist allerdings mit einer essentiellen Herausforderung verbunden. Um ansehnliche Skaleneffekte zu erreichen, empfiehlt sich die Entwicklung von DSMLs, die in einer größeren Nutzungsbandbreite einsetzbar sind. Gleichzeitig spricht der Gewinn an Modellierungsproduktivität im Einzelfall für Sprachkonzepte, die an individuelle Anforderungen angepasst sind. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein neuartiger Ansatz zur konzeptuellen Modellierung wie auch zur Konstruktion von Informationssystemen präsentiert, der durch die faktische Nutzung von Fachsprachen inspiriert ist – die Mehrebenen-Modellierung. Im Unterschied zu traditionellen Spracharchitekturen wie der „Meta Object Facility“ (MOF) basiert er auf einer rekursiven Architektur, die eine beliebige Zahl von Klassifikationsebenen ermöglicht und dadurch den Entwurf von Sprachhierarchien – von einer Referenz-DSML bis hin zu „lokalen“ DSMLs – erlaubt. Auf diese Weise wird nicht nur der essentielle Konflikt des Entwurfs von DSMLs deutlich entschärft, sondern auch die Wiederverwendung und Integration von Software-Komponenten im Allgemeinen gefördert. Zudem ermöglicht der Ansatz die Reduktion von Modellkomplexität, indem er die Dichotomie von Spezialisierung und Instanzierung teilweise aufhebt. Darüber hinaus integriert er eine Metamodellierungssprache mit dem Metamodell einer Metaprogrammiersprache, wodurch ausführbare Modelle ermöglicht werden. Die Spezifikation der Spracharchitektur wird ergänzt durch die Darstellung von Anwendungsszenarien, die die Potentiale der Mehrebenen-Modellierung verdeutlichen, sowie eine kritische Betrachtung ihrer Besonderheiten.〈/p〉