Hochschulzulassungen in Deutschland: Wem hilft die Reform durch das "Dialogorientierte Serviceverfahren"?

Seit Jahren hat das dezentrale System der Hochschulzulassung in Deutschland aufgrund von Mehrfachzulassungen bis lange nach Semesterbeginn mit dem Problem unbesetzter Studienplätze zu kämpfen eines der typischen Probleme dezentraler Zuordnungsverfahren. Langwierige Nachrückverfahren verzögern die Besetzung freier Studienplätze teils um mehrere Monate, obwohl die Hochschulen auf diese Problematik bereits mit einem starken Überbuchen der Studiengänge reagiert haben. Das Dialogorientierte Serviceverfahren, dessen Manipulationsanreize, Stabilitäts- und Effizienzeigenschaften von uns betrachtet werden, soll diese Probleme zukünftig beseitigen und hat durchaus das Potential die gegenwärtige Situation entscheidend zu verbessern. Dennoch konnten Schwachstellen identifiziert werden, die ausgeräumt werden sollten. -- The deregulation of the German market for university admissions has led to a number of typical problems of decentralized matching markets such as multiple applications, late rejections of offers, and universities unable to fill all their spaces. Unraveling, inefficiencies and risks for both sides of the market arise. Therefore a new centralized admissions procedure has been agreed upon. We discuss the new mechanism with its strengths and shortcomings. Overall, the centralized procedure allows universities to select their most preferred students, and is likely to improve upon the current situation. However, some weaknesses can be identified that should be addressed.matching,university admission,manipulation,strategic behavior

A hybrid architecture for robust parsing of german

This paper provides an overview of current research on a hybrid and robust parsing architecture for the morphological, syntactic and semantic annotation of German text corpora. The novel contribution of this research lies not in the individual parsing modules, each of which relies on state-of-the-art algorithms and techniques. Rather what is new about the present approach is the combination of these modules into a single architecture. This combination provides a means to significantly optimize the performance of each component, resulting in an increased accuracy of annotation

Why it’s not just about the outcome: citizens also care about democratic decision-making

A well-known claim for citizens’ involvement in politics is that, when things are going well, they care little about participating in decision-making processes. Michael A. Strebel, Daniel Kübler and Frank Marcinkowski test this claim, and find that, in fact, democratic participation and transparency matter for citizens too, independently of the specific policy outcome

Is there a bias towards elected actors in media coverage of policy-making in European metropolitan areas?

Metropolitan areas are a typical and increasingly discussed example for fragmented governance lacking clear accountability structures. While most of the literature has focused on the legitimacy of institutions and actors so far, we add a communicational dimension to democratic accountability. In this regard we argue that public accountability/ or accountability through the mass media has become a democratic standard that can be measured/ analyzed. Comparing two types of metropolitan governance in four countries, we test a theoretical and an empirical hypothesis regarding media’s ability to be a forum for public accountability. First, we argue that the media points out who is responsible for policy decisions in a way that mirrors governance structures. By pointing out who is responsible for policy making processes, public accountability reduces the complexity of network governance and actors can be held accountable. Second, however, we expect that the media are biased in focusing more on elected actors because due to their institutional/ political accountability they are more visible and thus easier to be held accountable. Analysing newspaper content data, we come to a mixed conclusion. While both elected and non-elected policy-actors are visible in the media, elected actors are more often attributed with responsibility and blamed than they are actually responsible. Unelected actors are not only outside of the chain of delegation in governance structures, they are also less in the focus of public control. Hence, although non-elected actors are less in the focus of public control, the mass media compensate their institutional lack of accountability by holding them accountable in public

Wannier-function approach to spin excitations in solids

We present a computational scheme to study spin excitations in magnetic materials from first principles. The central quantity is the transverse spin susceptibility, from which the complete excitation spectrum, including single-particle spin-flip Stoner excitations and collective spin-wave modes, can be obtained. The susceptibility is derived from many-body perturbation theory and includes dynamic correlation through a summation over ladder diagrams that describe the coupling of electrons and holes with opposite spins. In contrast to earlier studies, we do not use a model potential with adjustable parameters for the electron-hole interaction but employ the random-phase approximation. To reduce the numerical cost for the calculation of the four-point scattering matrix we perform a projection onto maximally localized Wannier functions, which allows us to truncate the matrix efficiently by exploiting the short spatial range of electronic correlation in the partially filled d or f orbitals. Our implementation is based on the FLAPW method. Starting from a ground-state calculation within the LSDA, we first analyze the matrix elements of the screened Coulomb potential in the Wannier basis for the 3d transition-metal series. In particular, we discuss the differences between a constrained nonmagnetic and a proper spin-polarized treatment for the ferromagnets Fe, Co, and Ni. The spectrum of single-particle and collective spin excitations in fcc Ni is then studied in detail. The calculated spin-wave dispersion is in good overall agreement with experimental data and contains both an acoustic and an optical branch for intermediate wave vectors along the [100] direction. In addition, we find evidence for a similar double-peak structure in the spectral function along the [111] direction.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 5 table

The communicational dimension of democratic accountability in metropolitan governance: Media reporting and perceived legitimacy in four European cities

As cities grow and expand, complex network governance (advocated by the so-called ‘new regionalism’) is increasingly important for policy-making in metropolitan areas. These arrangements have often been criticised as a threat to legitimacy, as they involve a wide array of policy-actors and blurrs and dilute electoral accountability. This paper focuses on the communicational dimension of democratic accountability in metropolitan governance, by exploring the role of the media. We use data from a standardized content analysis of newspaper coverage on metropolitan policy-making in four European mega- and metacities (Paris, London, Berlin and Zurich) and examine their relationship to legitimacy perceptions at the individual level on the basis of survey data. We find that institutional differences in metropolitan governance are quite adequately reflected in media reports. The results also show that media content indeed is correlated with citizen perceptions of legitimacy, i.e. trust in government as well as satisfaction with democracy. We therefore interpret the media as an additional - communicational – channel of democratic accountability in metropolitan governance

Virtuelle Head-Mounted-Display (HMD)-Kollaboration zur Abstimmung von Fahrzeugentwicklungsergebnissen

Die Vision einer kollaborativen, inhaltlichen Bewertung des Entwicklungs- und Reifegradfortschritts zwischen OEM und EDL definiert das Ziel der Arbeit eine mögliche Head-Mounted-Display(HMD)-Kollaboration zu untersuchen. Grundlage bildet ein Bewertungsschema zur Evaluation verschiedener Entscheidungsalternativen, welches auf qualitativ abgeleiteten Anforderungen einer VR-Kollaborationslösung besteht.Die Vision einer kollaborativen, inhaltlichen Bewertung des Entwicklungs- und Reifegradfortschritts zwischen OEM und EDL definiert das Ziel der Arbeit eine mögliche Head-Mounted-Display(HMD)-Kollaboration zu untersuchen. Grundlage bildet ein Bewertungsschema zur Evaluation verschiedener Entscheidungsalternativen, welches auf qualitativ abgeleiteten Anforderungen einer VR-Kollaborationslösung besteht

How Citizens’ Views of Democracy Impact Their Evaluation of Metropolitan Governance Arrangements: Evidence From a Comparative Conjoint Experiment

What features are important for democracy from a citizens’ perspective? How do citizens’ views of what democracy should be translate into their day-to-day evaluation of real-existing institutions? These questions have gained a renewed interest in scholarly debates as the notion of democracy as a multi-layered and contested concept has become dominant. Existing research assesses what views of democracy citizens hold and how they combine into different models, but they tell us little about what citizens prefer when they cannot maximize all dimensions at the same time. We shed light on this question by analyzing citizens’ evaluations of different governance arrangements that vary with respect to their input-, throughput- and output-legitimacy and their formal authority. We draw on data from an online-conjoint experiment conducted in eight metropolitan areas in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. We find, first, that output-legitimacy is the most important driver for citizens’ choice of a governance arrangement. Second, we find that the importance citizens attribute to different dimensions of these governance bodies is a function of their more general views of democracy. Yet, third, the output-dimension is the most important driver for citizens’ choice of a governance arrangement, irrespective of their views of democracy. Our findings suggest that political actors and institutions can gain legitimacy primarily through the provision of “good output”. However, democratic procedures in the form of input- and throughput-legitimacy remain important traits of democratic governance

Swiss CRM 2013 : Einsatz und Trends in Schweizer Unternehmen

StudieDie aktuelle Swiss CRM Studie beleuchtet den Status Quo sowie die Trends des CRM in der Schweiz. Der Schwerpunkt der diesjährigen Ausgabe liegt im Bereich Customer Experience Management. Dabei wird erstmals nicht nur die Unternehmenssicht, sondern auch die Kundenperspektive am Beispiel von drei teilnehmenden Unternehmen abgefragt

Swiss Marketing Leadership Studie 2016 : digitale Transformation im Marketing

Die meisten Schweizer Unternehmen haben verstanden, dass die Digitale Transformation das Marketing grundlegend verändert. Doch vielerorts fehlt es an strategischer Verankerung, Systematik und Ressourcen. Das Institut für Marketing Management der ZHAW School of Management hat am 8. September im Rahmen des Swiss CRM Forum seine diesjährige Swiss Marketing Leadership Studie vorgestellt. Die Befragung von 646 Schweizer Unternehmen zeigt, dass hierzulande ein grundlegendes Verständnis für die Veränderungen im Marketing vorhanden ist, welche die Digitale Transformation mit sich bringt. Allerdings befinden sich viele Unternehmen noch am Anfang des Transformationsprozesses. Auch nicht alle Unternehmen sehen die Entwicklung vornehmlich als Chance. Bisweilen fürchtet man eine Bedrohung des Status quo. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass hierzulande noch viele Herausforderungen zu meistern sind, will man weiterhin im internationalen Wettbewerb mithalten können.­­ Kundenbeziehungsmanagement als Treiber: Bei B2C-Unternehmen geniesst die Digitale Transformation einen signifikant höheren Stellenwert als im B2B-Bereich. Insbesondere das Kundenbeziehungsmanagement gilt vielerorts als Katalysator der Entwicklung. Weniger ausgeprägt ist das Verständnis für den Wandel hingegen im Produktmanagement, wo entsprechende Methoden und Tools noch eine untergeordnete Rolle spielen. Zudem zeigt sich, dass kaum ein Unternehmen bisher ein ganzheitliches, toolbasiertes Product-Lifecycle-Management betreibt. Fachleute verzweifelt gesucht: Gemäss Studie planen Schweizer Unternehmen mehr denn je, in das Kundenbeziehungsmanagement zu investieren. Allerdings zeigen sich dabei grosse Unterschiede: Je reifer das Unternehmen bezüglich Digitalisierung, desto grösser die Bereitschaft für Investitionen. Ausserdem gibt es grosse branchenspezifische Unterschiede. Trotz teilweise reger Aktivität fehlt es jedoch an strategischer Verankerung, Systematik und vor allem Ressourcen. Entsprechende Budgets sind zwar vielerorts vorhanden, doch die Rekrutierung geeigneter Mitarbeitenden stellt eine grosse Herausforderung dar. Die Studie wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit zahlreichen Partnern aus der Privatwirtschaft realisiert