Versioning of flexible products

Bei Flexiblen Produkten handelt es sich um Produkte, bei denen der Anbieter dem Käufer mindestens eine Eigenschaft im Kaufzeitpunkt unbekannt lässt (Gallego & Phillips, 2004). Gemäß der Strategie des Versionings wertet der Anbieter das Flexible Produkt im Vergleich zum Standardprodukt ab, in dem er den Kunden in Unsicherheit über das tatsächliche Produkt lässt. Für den gewissen Grad an Unsicherheit über die tatsächliche Produktalternative erhält der Kunde in der Regel einen günstigeren Preis als bei einem Produkt, bei dem er weiß, um welches es sich handelt (Standardprodukt). Erst nach vollzogenem Kauf wird vom Verkäufer offengelegt, um welches Produkt es sich handelt. Das Ziel der Dissertation besteht darin, den Einsatz von Flexiblen Produkten als Instrument der Preisdifferenzierung umfassend zu untersuchen. Dabei werden insbesondere die wissenschaftliche Abgrenzung von Flexiblen Produkten und Einordnung in die Preisdifferenzierung, sowie die Untersuchung der Ausgestaltungs- und Implementierungsmöglichkeiten zur Erlössteigerung betrachtet. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit sollen Unternehmen zeigen, wie sich Flexible Produkte in deren Produktportfolio integrieren lassen, welche Möglichkeiten dabei bestehen und welche Aspekte bei deren Umsetzung unter dem Ziel der Erlössteigerung beachtet werden sollen.The pricing of flexible products is a new price discrimination practice, which enables firms to increase revenues under capacity considerations. Flexible products are defined as a set of at least two alternatives, where consumers will be assigned to one of the alternatives by the seller. Flexible products allow consumers a self-selection according to their flexibility, thus enabling price discrimination for the seller

IMPLEMENTIERUNG EINES INTERACTIVE-PRICERESPONSE- SYSTEMS BEI EINER LOW-COST-AIRLINE

Das Wettbewerbsumfeld in der Airline-Branche hat sich in den letzten Jahren mit zunehmenden Marktanteilen der Low-Cost-Airlines grundlegend verändert. Zwar hat die Airline-Branche mittlerweile eine Marktbereinigung erfahren, aber nach wie vor verstärken Low-Cost-Airlines den Preiswettbewerb. Durch eine zunehmende Preistransparenz in der Branche wird es für Fluggesellschaften immer schwieriger unterschiedliche Kundensegmente mit differenzierten Preisen zu bedienen. Die Gefahr besteht, dass Kunden zu niedrigeren Preisen als ihren tatsächlichen Zahlungsbereitschaften kaufen und den Fluggesellschaften Deckungsbeitragseinbußen entstehen. Aus diesem Grund sind Preismechanismen, die eine individualisierte und weniger transparente Preissetzung ermöglichen, für Fluggesellschaften besonders interessant. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt die Funktionsweise eines interaktiven Preismechanismus dar, bei dem Kunden anhand ihrer Flexibilität den Preis mitbestimmen und Fluggesellschaften dadurch individualisierte Preise erzielen können. In einer empirischen Studie bei einer Low-Cost-Airline wird gezeigt, wie ein Interactive-Price- Response-Mechanismus (IPRS) in das bestehende Buchungs- und Preissystem einer Fluggesellschaft als service-orientierte Lösung implementiert werden kann

Does experience matter? Assessing user motivations to accept a vehicle-to-grid charging tariff

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) could be a cornerstone to ensure the efficient integration of a large number of electric vehicles (EVs) and the resulting electricity demand into the energy system. However, successful V2G adoption requires direct interaction with the EV user. To explore user preferences and requirements in the context of a V2G charging tariff, we conducted a survey (N = 1196). We assess users’ minimum range requirements and willingness to pay for a V2G charging tariff and relate them to users’ experience with EVs. By building a mediation model, we evaluate the importance of three charging strategies to guide users’ minimum range requirements and expected monetary savings. The results reveal EV owners’ preference for a climate-neutral charging strategy, leading to a higher readiness to accept lower minimum ranges and lower monetary savings. These results are especially important to aggregators, aiming to design profitable business models, while accounting for user requirements and preferences

Micromotives of Vote Switchers and Macrotransitions: The Case of the Immigration Issue in a Regional Earthquake Election in Germany 2018

Which issue-related motives underlie voters' decision to switch parties at the polls? Do switchers stick to the newly chosen party, or do they oscillate in a short-term way at intermediate elections? Relying on the behavioral theory of elections, we assumed aspiration-based voting of boundedly rational voters. We elicited issue-related switch and stay motives in an open-ended survey question format to identify the individual dominant aspirational frame. We traced the respondents' voting trajectories over three consecutive elections, including two state (2013 and 2018) elections in Bavaria (Germany) and one German federal election (2017). We focused on one of the most polarizing and salient issues in these elections, namely immigration. The case of reference is the 2018 Bavarian state election. Here, the incumbent majoritarian center-right party Christian Social Union tried to deter the entry of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany by adapting to it on the immigration issue in tone and position. The selected case allows assessment of the impact of issue-based adaptive behavior of the incumbent party at the level of the voters' switch or stay choices. We estimated the direction and number of voter flows for two interelection sequences of different lengths between different types of polls (federal and state). Our transition estimates are based on the hybrid multinomial Dirichlet model, a new technique integrating individual-level survey data and official aggregate data. Our estimates uncover substantial behavioral differences in the immigration issue public

Comparison of Serial and Parallel Connections of Membrane Lungs against Refractory Hypoxemia in a Mock Circuit

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an important rescue therapy method for the treatment of severe hypoxic lung injury. In some cases, oxygen saturation and oxygen partial pressure in the arterial blood are low despite ECMO therapy. There are case reports in which patients with such instances of refractory hypoxemia received a second membrane lung, either in series or in parallel, to overcome the hypoxemia. It remains unclear whether the parallel or serial connection is more effective. Therefore, we used an improved version of our full-flow ECMO mock circuit to test this. The measurements were performed under conditions in which the membrane lungs were unable to completely oxygenate the blood. As a result, only the photometric pre- and post-oxygenator saturations, blood flow and hemoglobin concentration were required for the calculation of oxygen transfer rates. The results showed that for a pre-oxygenator saturation of 45% and a total blood flow of 10 L/min, the serial connection of two identical 5 L rated oxygenators is 17% more effective in terms of oxygen transfer than the parallel connection. Although the idea of using a second membrane lung if refractory hypoxia occurs is intriguing from a physiological point of view, due to the invasiveness of the solution, further investigations are needed before this should be used in a wider clinical setting

Micromotives of Vote Switchers and Macrotransitions: The Case of the Immigration Issue in a Regional Earthquake Election in Germany 2018

Which issue-related motives underlie voters' decision to switch parties at the polls? Do switchers stick to the newly chosen party, or do they oscillate in a short-term way at intermediate elections? Relying on the behavioral theory of elections, we assumed aspiration-based voting of boundedly rational voters. We elicited issue-related switch and stay motives in an open-ended survey question format to identify the individual dominant aspirational frame. We traced the respondents' voting trajectories over three consecutive elections, including two state (2013 and 2018) elections in Bavaria (Germany) and one German federal election (2017). We focused on one of the most polarizing and salient issues in these elections, namely immigration. The case of reference is the 2018 Bavarian state election. Here, the incumbent majoritarian center-right party Christian Social Union tried to deter the entry of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany by adapting to it on the immigration issue in tone and position. The selected case allows assessment of the impact of issue-based adaptive behavior of the incumbent party at the level of the voters' switch or stay choices. We estimated the direction and number of voter flows for two interelection sequences of different lengths between different types of polls (federal and state). Our transition estimates are based on the hybrid multinomial Dirichlet model, a new technique integrating individual-level survey data and official aggregate data. Our estimates uncover substantial behavioral differences in the immigration issue public

A Selection of Benchmark Problems in Solid Mechanics and Applied Mathematics

In this contribution we provide benchmark problems in the field of computational solid mechanics. In detail, we address classical fields as elasticity, incompressibility, material interfaces, thin structures and plasticity at finite deformations. For this we describe explicit setups of the benchmarks and introduce the numerical schemes. For the computations the various participating groups use different (mixed) Galerkin finite element and isogeometric analysis formulations. Some programming codes are available open-source. The output is measured in terms of carefully designed quantities of interest that allow for a comparison of other models, discretizations, and implementations. Furthermore, computational robustness is shown in terms of mesh refinement studies. This paper presents benchmarks, which were developed within the Priority Programme of the German Research Foundation ‘SPP 1748 Reliable Simulation Techniques in Solid Mechanics—Development of Non-Standard Discretisation Methods, Mechanical and Mathematical Analysis’. © 2020, The Author(s)

A selection of benchmark problems in solid mechanics and applied mathematics

In this contribution we provide benchmark problems in the field of computational solid mechanics. In detail, we address classical fields as elasticity, incompressibility, material interfaces, thin structures and plasticity at finite deformations. For this we describe explicit setups of the benchmarks and introduce the numerical schemes. For the computations the various participating groups use different (mixed) Galerkin finite element and isogeometric analysis formulations. Some programming codes are available open-source. The output is measured in terms of carefully designed quantities of interest that allow for a comparison of other models, discretizations, and implementations. Furthermore, computational robustness is shown in terms of mesh refinement studies. This paper presents benchmarks, which were developed within the Priority Programme of the German Research Foundation ‘SPP 1748 Reliable Simulation Techniques in Solid Mechanics-Development of Non-Standard Discretisation Methods, Mechanical and Mathematical Analysis’.Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftProjekt DEA

The GRAVITY+ Project: Towards All-sky, Faint-Science, High-Contrast Near-Infrared Interferometry at the VLTI

The GRAVITY instrument has been revolutionary for near-infrared interferometry by pushing sensitivity and precision to previously unknown limits. With the upgrade of GRAVITY and the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in GRAVITY+, these limits will be pushed even further, with vastly improved sky coverage, as well as faint-science and high-contrast capabilities. This upgrade includes the implementation of wide-field off-axis fringe-tracking, new adaptive optics systems on all Unit Telescopes, and laser guide stars in an upgraded facility. GRAVITY+ will open up the sky to the measurement of black hole masses across cosmic time in hundreds of active galactic nuclei, use the faint stars in the Galactic centre to probe General Relativity, and enable the characterisation of dozens of young exoplanets to study their formation, bearing the promise of another scientific revolution to come at the VLTI.Comment: Published in the ESO Messenge

Clinical and virological characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a German tertiary care centre during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a prospective observational study

Purpose: Adequate patient allocation is pivotal for optimal resource management in strained healthcare systems, and requires detailed knowledge of clinical and virological disease trajectories. The purpose of this work was to identify risk factors associated with need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), to analyse viral kinetics in patients with and without IMV and to provide a comprehensive description of clinical course. Methods: A cohort of 168 hospitalised adult COVID-19 patients enrolled in a prospective observational study at a large European tertiary care centre was analysed. Results: Forty-four per cent (71/161) of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Shorter duration of symptoms before admission (aOR 1.22 per day less, 95% CI 1.10-1.37, p < 0.01) and history of hypertension (aOR 5.55, 95% CI 2.00-16.82, p < 0.01) were associated with need for IMV. Patients on IMV had higher maximal concentrations, slower decline rates, and longer shedding of SARS-CoV-2 than non-IMV patients (33 days, IQR 26-46.75, vs 18 days, IQR 16-46.75, respectively, p < 0.01). Median duration of hospitalisation was 9 days (IQR 6-15.5) for non-IMV and 49.5 days (IQR 36.8-82.5) for IMV patients. Conclusions: Our results indicate a short duration of symptoms before admission as a risk factor for severe disease that merits further investigation and different viral load kinetics in severely affected patients. Median duration of hospitalisation of IMV patients was longer than described for acute respiratory distress syndrome unrelated to COVID-19