Methods for measuring pedestrian density, flow, speed and direction with minimal scatter

The progress of image processing during recent years allows the measurement of pedestrian characteristics on a "microscopic" scale with low costs. However, density and flow are concepts of fluid mechanics defined for the limit of infinitely many particles. Standard methods of measuring these quantities locally (e.g. counting heads within a rectangle) suffer from large data scatter. The remedy of averaging over large spaces or long times reduces the possible resolution and inhibits the gain obtained by the new technologies. In this contribution we introduce a concept for measuring microscopic characteristics on the basis of pedestrian trajectories. Assigning a personal space to every pedestrian via a Voronoi diagram reduces the density scatter. Similarly, calculating direction and speed from position differences between times with identical phases of movement gives low-scatter sequences for speed and direction. Closing we discuss the methods to obtain reliable values for derived quantities and new possibilities of in depth analysis of experiments. The resolution obtained indicates the limits of stationary state theory.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figs, submitted to Physica

Higher-Order Process Modeling: Product-Lining, Variability Modeling and Beyond

We present a graphical and dynamic framework for binding and execution of business) process models. It is tailored to integrate 1) ad hoc processes modeled graphically, 2) third party services discovered in the (Inter)net, and 3) (dynamically) synthesized process chains that solve situation-specific tasks, with the synthesis taking place not only at design time, but also at runtime. Key to our approach is the introduction of type-safe stacked second-order execution contexts that allow for higher-order process modeling. Tamed by our underlying strict service-oriented notion of abstraction, this approach is tailored also to be used by application experts with little technical knowledge: users can select, modify, construct and then pass (component) processes during process execution as if they were data. We illustrate the impact and essence of our framework along a concrete, realistic (business) process modeling scenario: the development of Springer's browser-based Online Conference Service (OCS). The most advanced feature of our new framework allows one to combine online synthesis with the integration of the synthesized process into the running application. This ability leads to a particularly flexible way of implementing self-adaption, and to a particularly concise and powerful way of achieving variability not only at design time, but also at runtime.Comment: In Proceedings Festschrift for Dave Schmidt, arXiv:1309.455

Equilibrium security prices with capital income taxes and an exogenous interest rate

We are interested in the effect of capital income taxes upon security prices when investors face locally segmented stock markets and a global bond market. Therefore, we analyze an equilibrium model of an economy with binomial uncertainty, an exogenous risk-free interest rate and a representative stand-in household. In this setting, the pricing effect for domestic securities is shown to be a function in three determinants: the covariance between pre-tax payoffs of securities and the aggregated market portfolio, the exogenous pre-tax interest rate and the effect of taxation (and redistribution) on the aggregate welfare of the stand-in household. We find that taxation of capital income is nondistorting if tax proceeds are immediately redistributed within the cohort of capital market participants. If, however, taxation represents a policy tool to transfer wealth from capital market participants to non-market participants, the level of the statutory tax rate is reflected in equilibrium security prices and taxation affects households portfolio decisions, which in turn may affect investment decision of firms. --equilibrium security prices,capital income tax,equity premium

Innovation in last mile delivery : meeting evolving customer demands : the case of In-Car Delivery

Parcel delivery today is in urgent need for innovation driven by the imbalance between two forces that can be observed in the market environment. First, the volume of parcels between businesses and consumers is growing rapidly, mainly driven through e-commerce. Second, consumer habits and lifestyles are changing in a way that demands more flexibility and convenience. Ultimately, the feasibility of the delivery moment, reaching consumers at home, is shrinking. Therefore, this thesis deals with service innovations in the Last Mile Delivery of parcels that seek to enhance customer experience and address the insufficiencies of existing delivery models. The emphasis in this work is on In-Car Delivery - a method in which a parcel is delivered to the trunk of a consumer’s car. The objective of the paper is to examine whether consumers would accept In-Car Delivery as a novel way to receive parcels. Key findings suggest that In-Car Delivery can solve the deficiencies of today’s delivery methods, and consumers are willing to use trunk delivery. Yet, the research also shows that In-Car Delivery brings along an unprecedented set of concerns in parcel delivery, namely customer data and privacy concerns. As the exploration of innovative delivery solutions - beyond In-Car Delivery - is continuing, this research helps parcel companies to prioritize and concentrate their resources on the main value drivers. This study identified the following five factors most important to consumers when receiving a parcel: flexibility, convenience, cost, speed, and variety.A entrega de encomendas hoje passa por uma necessidade urgente de inovação, impulsionada pelo desequilíbrio entre duas forças que podem ser observadas no mercado. Primeiro, o volume das encomendas entre empresas e consumidores está crescendo rapidamente, principalmente através do e-commerce. Segundo, os hábitos de consumo e estilos de vida estão mudando de forma a exigir mais flexibilidade e conveniência. E por ultimo, a viabilidade de entrega, de a encomenda chegar às mãos dos consumidores em casa, está diminuindo. Portanto, esta tese trata de inovações de serviços na entrega de encomendas da Last-Mile Delivery que buscam aprimorar a experiência do cliente e abordar as insuficiências dos modelos de entrega atuais e existentes. A ênfase deste trabalho está no In-Car Delivery – um método onde a encomenda é entregue ao porta-malas do carro do consumidor. O objetivo deste trabalho é examinar se os consumidores aceitariam ou não o serviço In-Car Delivery como uma nova maneira de receber suas encomendas. Alem disso, este estudo identificou os seguintes cinco fatores mais importantes para os consumidores quando se trata de receber uma encomenda: flexibilidade, conveniência, custo, velocidade, e variedade. As principais conclusões sugerem que o serviço In-Car Delivery pode resolver as deficiências dos métodos de entrega atuais, e em geral, os consumidores estão dispostos a usar este serviço como método de recebimento de encomendas. No entanto, a pesquisa também mostra que o In-Car Delivery traz consigo preocupações sem precedentes quando se trata da entrega de encomendas, principalmente preocupações com os dados e privacidade dos clientes

The Transitivity of Trust Problem in the Interaction of Android Applications

Mobile phones have developed into complex platforms with large numbers of installed applications and a wide range of sensitive data. Application security policies limit the permissions of each installed application. As applications may interact, restricting single applications may create a false sense of security for the end users while data may still leave the mobile phone through other applications. Instead, the information flow needs to be policed for the composite system of applications in a transparent and usable manner. In this paper, we propose to employ static analysis based on the software architecture and focused data flow analysis to scalably detect information flows between components. Specifically, we aim to reveal transitivity of trust problems in multi-component mobile platforms. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach with Android applications, although the generalization of the analysis to similar composition-based architectures, such as Service-oriented Architecture, can also be explored in the future