Wirtschaft und Informationstechnik Bocholt
Neuroscientists want to inspect the data their simulations are producing while these are still running. This will on the one hand save them time waiting for results and therefore insight. On the other, it will allow for more efficient use of CPU time if the simulations are being run on supercomputers. If they had access to the data being generated, neuroscientists could monitor it and take counter-actions, e.g., parameter adjustments, should the simulation deviate too much from in-vivo observations or get stuck.
As a first step toward this goal, we devise an in situ pipeline tailored to the neuroscientific use case. It is capable of recording and transferring simulation data to an analysis/visualization process, while the simulation is still running. The developed libraries are made publicly available as open source projects. We provide a proof-of-concept integration, coupling the neuronal simulator NEST to basic 2D and 3D visualization.
Quantum systems are typically subject to various environmental noise sources. Treating these environmental disturbances with a system-bath approach beyond weak coupling, one must refer to numerical methods as, for example, the numerically exact quasi-adiabatic path integral approach. This approach, however, cannot treat baths which couple to the system via operators, which do not commute. We extend the quasi-adiabatic path integral approach by determining the time discrete influence functional for such non-commuting fluctuations and by modifying the propagation scheme accordingly. We test the extended quasi-adiabatic path integral approach by determining the time evolution of a quantum two-level system coupled to two independent baths via non-commuting operators. We show that the convergent results can be obtained and agreement with the analytical weak coupling results is achieved in the respective limits.
We derive a Magnus expansion for a frequency chirped quantum two-level system. We obtain a time-independent effective Hamiltonian which generates a stroboscopic time evolution. At lowest order the according dynamics is identical to results from using a rotating wave approximation. We determine, furthermore, also the next higher-order corrections within our expansion scheme in correspondence to the Bloch-Siegert shifts for harmonically driven systems. Importantly, our scheme can be extended to more complicated systems, i.e., even many-body systems.
Recent experimental results showing atypical nonlinear absorption and marked deviations from well known universality in the low temperature acoustic and dielectric losses in amorphous solids prove the need for improving the understanding of the nature of two-level systems (TLSs) in these materials. Here we suggest the study of TLSs focused on their properties which are nonuniversal. Our theoretical analysis shows that the standard tunneling model and the recently suggested two-TLS model provide markedly different predictions for the experimental outcome of these studies. Our results may be directly tested in disordered lattices, e.g KBr:CN, where there is ample theoretical support for the validity of the two-TLS model, as well as in amorphous solids. Verification of our results in the latter will significantly enhance understanding of the nature of TLSs in amorphous solids, and the ability to manipulate them and reduce their destructive effect in various cutting edge applications including superconducting qubits.
Gaining customer loyalty is an important goal of marketing, and loyalty programs are intended to help in reaching it. Research on loyalty programs suggests that customers differentiate between loyalty to a company and loyalty to a loyalty program, yet little is known about the consequences of these two types of loyalty. Therefore, our study intends to make two main contributions: (1) improving our understanding of the constructs “program loyalty” and “company loyalty”, (2) investigating the relative impact of the two types of loyalty on preference, intention, and purchase behavior for the case of a multi-firm loyalty program. Results indicate that company loyalty influences a customer’s choice to visit a particular provider and to prefer it over competitors, but it is not a strong predictor of purchase behavior. Conversely, program loyalty is a far more important driver of purchase behavior. This implies that company loyalty primarily attracts customers to a particular provider and program loyalty ensures that once inside the store, more money is spent.
There is a strongly held belief that if companies can direct their marketing activities to improve customer attitudes and intentions, it will impact on purchase behaviors. Departing from complementary yet sometimes conflicting findings of the current literature, we intend to contribute to the literature by answering two related questions. First, we investigate drivers of loyalty intention over time, and by so doing try to better understand loyalty formation. Second, once we understand loyalty formation, we assess the impact of loyalty on different aspects of purchase behavior, considering temporal effects. Therefore, we develop a consumption-system model which assumes that perceptions, intention, and the impact of perceptions and intention on behavior in one period serve as anchors for the same constructs in a subsequent period, implying a pattern of repeated consumption over time.
Using 3SLS regression analysis, results of a large-scale study using survey data from a sample of 2,478 customers from two points in time and purchase data gathered over a 30-month period suggest interesting findings on the two aforementioned questions:
Considering the first question, we find strong support for customer equity drivers directly influencing loyalty. Moreover, we see evidence for loyalty formation as a consumption-system as equity drivers and loyalty intention of one period are significant predictors of the same constructs in the next period.
Addressing the second research question is less straightforward. We find a significant impact of loyalty intention only for purchase frequency, but not for future sales and average receipt. This suggests that in a retailing context, the amount spent depends to a larger extent on actual needs and not on loyalty intention. Loyalty intention seems to be a more appropriate lead indicator for the frequency of store visits. For most categories, repurchase intention will not necessarily be related to higher sales. On the contrary, higher future sales are more likely to depend on the retailer’s ability to cross- and up-sell to its customers. In all, we need to acknowledge that the strongest predictor of future behavior is, in fact, past behavior.
These results question some of the strongly held beliefs of relationship marketing and its impact on actual behavior. Effects might not be as simple as they appear at first, i.e., temporal interplay between constructs. Moreover, it seems that inertia is more important than some marketing research tends to acknowledge. We would therefore suggest a more detailed investigation of customers’ initial choice behavior. If, in fact, inertia is the driving force behind purchase behavior, companies need to augment their emphasis on increasing initial customer contact and, accordingly, on initial product trial. This is somewhat counter-intuitive from a relationship marketing perspective, because that stream of research largely suggests the advantage of retaining customers rather than acquiring new ones. While we are not denying the importance of customer retention, it seems that companies are already fairly successful in doing so – the strong inertia effect confirms that. Hence, customer retention might not be the best strategy to differentiate in the market. Perhaps companies can better differentiate by excelling in customer acquisition. This, however, would have a significant impact on how marketing budgets should be spent by companies trying to reach sustained success. It might be time for re-balancing customer acquisition and customer retention.
Analysis of future development opportunities for OIS (Office Information Systems) methods and tools.
(1992)
We investigate how professional recruiters perceive and assess potential board director candidates. Based on a human capital perspective, individual characteristics will represent certain human capital resources, perceived as more or less useful for the firm. We focus on what characteristics are critical for a candidate to be perceived as appointable to a board. We are particularly interested in the role visible vs. more hidden aspects of human capital in these assessments. The aim of the study is to uncover central actors’ ideas and assumptions of what constitutes the ideal board director. This will add
knowledge as to how board compositions are created and
changed.
We conducted eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews with professional recruiters in Germany and Norway. The results show that formal competence is partly downplayed as selection criteria for board positions, while experience has a central role. Further, our results show that experiences have both a concrete and a symbolic side, where certain individual characteristics appear to represent an image of a successful director of a board. Further, our data show that symbolic capital, labeled “habitus”, is a crucial prerequisite for an individual to be appraised as an ideal candidate. The results indicate preferences for stability and predictability in recruitment processes, which may contribute to explain the persistently low
proportion of women on corporate boards.
This book provides unique insights into how the idea of quota laws to get women on to corporate boards gained international momentum from its origins in Norway. Invaluable insights are gained through the stories of actors involved in shaping the discourse and practice on women of boards.
In exploring political contexts, the role of the advocacy movement, experiences of women directors themselves and latest research findings, the contributors provide a comprehensive overview of the rationales, processes and outcomes of formal approaches to gender diversity on boards. Drawing on insights from political, business and academic actors, the book discusses how and why the Norwegian law on gender equality on corporate boards is turning into a blueprint for action internationally.
Getting Women on to Corporate Boards will prove an invaluable resource for policy-makers, principle-setters, practitioners and students interested in the international lessons from Norway, as well as for current and potential female directors.
Broadening the Target Group for Higher education in Germany: A Case Study on Diversity Management
(2011)
In some industrialized German areas, as in the Ruhr-Area, the percentage of students with migrant background in primary education has overcome the 50 percentage limit with an increasing share in future, the overwhelming part of them with family from Turkey. A large share of those students attains the admission qualification to higher education from “Berufskollegs”, schools which focus on the combination of vocational skills and theoretical education. This migrant potential can primarily be tapped for additional students by universities of applied sciences which are embedded into their regions and dedicated to teaching.
First, we show the approach to conceptualize culture and cultural specifics of migrants with Turkish background this project is based on.
Second, we give an overview on the main actions of the project, systematically presented as a process leading students through the institution (“input, throughput, output”).
Third, we frame the project by referring to principles of diversity management in general.
This paper develops a framework for understanding the relationships between approaches to learning adopted by students in the context of higher education and the culture of the country they were brought up in. The paper, after examining the more widely used Kolb's learning styles, opts for another categorisation, namely the so called learning approaches developed by Entwistle and others (for example, Entwistle and Ramsden, 1983; Biggs, 1987; Entwistle, 1992; Tait, Entwistle and McCune, 1998; Biggs, Kember and Leung, 2001). Each of the main categories of learning approaches identified by his school, namely, deep, surface apathetic, and strategic are related to Hofstede's cultural dimensions, namely, power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, long vs. short time orientation and masculinity vs. femininity and a series of hypotheses developed that could be tested in cross cultural samples. This study would give practical hints on students moving out to study in different cultures (e.g. for higher education) and for teachers dealing with students from multiple cultures.
(PDF) Does culture influence learning styles in higher education?. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254836756_Does_culture_influence_learning_styles_in_higher_education [accessed Jul 09 2018].
Diversity Management - an approach to use people of different ages as a resource in enterprises
(2003)
Intercultural Communication Competence: Implications for Learning and Teaching in a Globalized World
(2007)
Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity Management. Theoretical Approaches and Best Practices
(2017)
Environmental rocking ratchet: Environmental rectification by a harmonically driven avoided crossing
(2017)
We propose a rocking ratchet designed as a symmetric quantum two-state system driven by a single periodic harmonic force and influenced symmetrically by thermal fluctuations. We show that the necessary broken symmetry can dynamically be achieved by a thermal environment that couples to the energy difference between the two states and the tunnel coupling between them. The quantum two-state system is driven by the harmonic periodic drive through its avoided crossing. The correspondingly driven dissipative quantum dynamics results on average in a finite population difference between both states. This then causes directed particle transport.