Bounded Rationality and Consumer Research: Lessons From a Study of Choices of Mobile Phone Service Contracts

This paper draws lessons about the allocation of resources to research aimed at studying the efficiency of consumer decision making in complex, fast-moving markets. These lessons emerged during research involving a large-sample survey of choices of mobile phone service plans by Australian consumers. In this kind of market, researchers will run into difficulties in collecting and evaluating data, and market conditions will not stand still while they address these problems. It is even possible that what seems suboptimal to researchers will sometimes actually be highly appropriate choice for consumers. The paper concludes by advocating the use of simpler methods to approximate the prevalence of decision-making inefficiency—such as collaborative work with owners of websites that try to assist consumers—as knowledge of optimal choices is not essential for understanding the sources of inefficiency or devising methods by which better choices might be made.

STR-839: ADDRESSING THE ISSUES OF MODAL IDENTIFICATION USING TENSOR DECOMPOSITION

Modal identification has been an indispensable tool for condition assessment of critical civil infrastructure. Recently several signal processing techniques including time-frequency analysis have shown significant success in addressing wide range of challenges in modal identification of flexible structures. In a parallel development, tensor decomposition is explored as an attractive and versatile system identification tool that can use even a limited number of vibration sensors to estimate the modal parameters under ambient excitations. In this paper, the performance of tensor decomposition is evaluated for modal identification of a building model under a multitude of earthquake excitations

Towards identification of progressive damage in structures under non-stationary excitation

Monitoring and retrofitting of large-scale infrastructure is of paramount importance specifically when they are subjected to natural hazards like strong wind, severe earthquakes or man-made excitation. Once the rich vibration data is collected from the structures, a robust system identification method is required to extract the hidden structural information, and undertake necessary condition assessment and rehabilitation. Most of the traditional modal identification methods are reliant on stationarity assumption of the vibration re- sponse and posed difficulty while analyzing nonstationary vibration occurred due to natural hazards. Apart from the excitation-induced nonstationarity, the inherent damages in the structure also cause frequency-dependent nonstationarity in the response. With such combination of both amplitude and frequency-dependent nonstationary response, the modal identification becomes a signifcantly challenging task. Recently tensor decomposition based methods are emerged as powerful and yet generic blind (i.e. without requiring a knowledge of input characteristics) signal decomposition tool for structural modal identification. In this thesis, a tensor decomposition based system identification method is further explored to estimate modal parameters using amplitude- dependent nonstationary vibration generated due to either earthquake or pedestrian in- duced excitation in a structure. The effects of lag parameters and sensor densities on tensor decomposition are studied with respect to the extent of nonstationarity of the responses characterized by the stationary duration and peak ground acceleration of the earthquake. A suite of more than 1400 earthquakes is used to investigate the performance of the pro- posed method under a wide variety of ground motions utilizing both complete and partial measurements of a high-rise building model. Apart from the earthquake, human-induced nonstationary vibration of a real-life pedestrian bridge is also used to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. Once the method is verified using amplitude-based nonstationary response, Cauchy continuous wavelet transform is integrated with the tensor decomposition to track time- varying characteristics of each modal responses and detect the progressive damage. With such an integrated framework, the proposed method is able to identify both amplitude and frequency-dependent nonstationary responses. The proposed technique is validated using a suite of numerical studies as well as a laboratory experiment where the progressive damage is simulated in the structural component with a heating torch

Schutz und Erhalt pflanzengenetischer Vielfalt : In situ- und Ex situ-Maßnahmen

Die ökologische, ökonomische und kulturelle Bedeutung von Wildpflanzenarten und deren Potential an genetischen Ressourcen werden immer offensichtlicher. Aber unsere Biosphäre verändert sich zunehmend drastischer, wodurch die natürliche Artenvielfalt stark bedroht ist. Die „Convention on Biological Diversity“ (CBD) hat sich ein Aufhalten des Biodiversitätsverlustes zum Ziel gesetzt. In situ- Maßnahmen wird dabei eine hohe Priorität zugesprochen, aber Ex situ-Maßnahmen werden immer dringender und dies insbesondere hinsichtlich des Erhalts genetischer Variabilität auf Populationsebene. Botanische Gärten sind durch ihre traditionell großen Sammlungen und Ausstellungen als Standardinstitutionen für eine Ex situ-Erhaltung prädestiniert. Aber der Wert und die Bedeutung dieser Sammlungen für den Erhalt der natürlichen genetischen Variabilität bleibt de facto beschränkt. Wir plädieren daher mit Nachdruck für Saatgutgenbanken für Wildpflanzen. Diese Vorgehensweise wird in mehreren Ländern bereits herangezogen - in Deutschland aber nicht. Saatgutgenbanken sind die einfachste und preisgünstigste Ex situ-Strategie zum Erhalt der pflanzengenetischen Vielfalt. Saatgutgenbanken für Wildpflanzen haben das Ziel, natürliche pflanzengenetische Ressourcen zu schützen und zu erhalten. In Kombination mit In situ-Maßnahmen haben sie große Bedeutung für den Naturschutz, z.B. im Rahmen von Wiederbesiedlungsmaßnahmen.The world is facing a dramatic change of the biosphere. Habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and biological invasions are regarded as greatest threat for biodiversity. To stop the current loss of biodiversity is a matter of worldwide concern, and is the goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992). Priority is given to in situ measures against species decline, however should be supported by ex situ conservation, and in the light of the ever increasing loss of biodiversity, ex situ measures are becoming more and more urgent, especially when protecting genetic variation at the population level. There is growing awareness of the ecological, economic and cultural significance of wild plant species and their potential as genetic resources. Botanic gardens are the standard institutions for ex situ conservation. With their huge collections on display botanical gardens are the most effective multipliers for increasing public awareness of the value of biodiversity and conservation needs. However, there are limitations which reduce the value of the collections of the botanical gardens for conservation of genetic variability. We therefore strongly argue for seed gene banks of wild plants, a strategy which has been already adopted in several countries but not in Germany. Seed gene banks are the easiest and least expensive way for preserving plant genetic variability. The aim of seed gene banks for indigenous wild plants are protection and conservation of natural plant genetic resources and promoting integrated ex situ and in situ conservation efforts e.g. for reintroduction strategies

Loki Schmidt-Genbank für Wildpflanzen am Botanischen Garten der Universität Osnabrück

Zur Erhaltung genetischer Ressourcen, wissenschaftlicher Forschung und im Rahmen zentraler Informationsdatenbanken sind Ex situ-Sammlungen in Form von Genbanken notwendig. Die Botanischen Gärten sollten Saatgutgenbanken von Wildpflanzen zukünftig aufbauen bzw. etablieren, um die Erhaltungsmaßnahmen und den Schutz der natürlichen pflanzengenetischen Ressourcen weiter voranzubringen. Am Botanischen Garten der Universität Osnabrück ist eine Genbank für Wildpflanzen eingerichtet worden, die insbesondere Saatgut gefährdeter Gefäßpflanzenarten Nordwestdeutschlands beherbergt und unter trockenen Bedingungen bei minus 20°C in speziellen Alu-Polyethylenfolien aufbewahrt. Gegenwärtig befinden sich 1800 Saatgutproben von 620 Wildpflanzenarten aus 65 Pflanzenfamilien in der Genbank. In einer Access basierten Datenbank ist jeder Beleg auch online abrufbar (www.wildpflanzen-genbank.de) und im Herbarium “OSBU“ der AG Botanik als Belegexemplar hinterlegt. Wir planen die Integration der Loki Schmidt-Genbank und das dezentrale Netzwerk von regionalen Saatgut-Genbanken für Wildpflanzen in die Organisation „Nationales Inventar Pflanzengenetischer Ressourcen Deutschlands“ (PGRDEU) und hier in das untergeordnete Netzwerk „Deutsche Genbank für Crop Wild Relatives” (CWR), dessen Koordination dem Botanischen Garten Osnabrück obliegen würde. Botanische Gärten können als Institutionen die Nachhaltigkeit der Einrichtung solcher Systeme gewährleisten und sind deshalb die richtigen Ansprechpartner für diese Kooperation.There is a growing awareness for the significance of seed gene banks as an ex situ-strategy for the maintenance of plant genetic resources. At the Botanical Garden of the University of Osnabrueck we established a seed gene bank for wild plants of Northwest Germany. We have already collected material of 1800 accessions from 620 species and 65 families. The seeds are dried and stored in special plastic bags in minus 20°C. Information about each accession is listed in an access database which is online available (www.wildpflanzen-genbank.de). Voucher material is documented in the herbarium OSBU of the AG Botany at the University of Osnabrueck. We plan to integrate the Loki Schmidt Gene Bank and the decentralised network of seed gene banks for wild plants into the organisation “National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources Germany” (PGRDEU) and here in the subordinated network “German Gene Bank for Crop Wild Relatives” which shall be coordinated in the Botanical Garden in Osnabrueck. Institutions like Botanical Gardens are able to guarantee for the sustainability of such systems and are the most probable partners in the cooperation

Looking back while moving forward:How past responses to climate change can inform future adaptation and mitigation strategies in the Arctic

Modern Arctic Indigenous peoples face many interconnected pressures, not the least of which is anthropogenic climate change, which is emerging as one of the most dramatic drivers of social and economic change in recent memory. In this paper, we investigate whether or not insights into premodern strategies for coping with climate change—and especially the “deeper histories” of traditional ways-of-knowing—can play a useful role in future planning, management and mitigation efforts. We do this in two ways. First, we assess this special issue's 17 archaeological case studies, in order to determine whether they are conducted within a framework that is consistent with approaches to resilience in studies of modern Arctic communities. Second, we focus on three climate-driven challenges faced by Canadian Arctic Inuit: safe travel, food security and food safety. For each, we identify specific ways in which studies of past social-ecological systems intersect with modern climate adaptation. We conclude that since archaeological insights highlight the operation of decision-making processes within long-term culture-adaptive trajectories, they can offer unique insights into the much shorter-term processes currently underway. While we highlight many potential directions for productive collaboration, much more work is required in local and regional settings to demonstrate the full potential of archaeology for future-oriented planning and mitigation efforts

Interacting particle systems with continuous spins

We study a general class of interacting particle systems over a countable state space $V$ where on each site $x \in V$ the particle mass $\eta(x) \geq 0$ follows a stochastic differential equation. We construct the corresponding Markovian dynamics in terms of strong solutions to an infinite coupled system of stochastic differential equations and prove a comparison principle with respect to the initial configuration as well as the drift of the process. Using this comparison principle, we provide sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of an invariant measure in the subcritical regime and prove convergence of the transition probabilities in the Wasserstein-1-distance. Finally, for sublinear drifts, we establish a linear growth theorem showing that the spatial spread is at most linear in time. Our results cover a large class of finite and infinite branching particle systems with interactions among different sites

Slums, Space, and State of Health — A Link between Settlement Morphology and Health Data

Approximately 1 billion slum dwellers worldwide are exposed to increased health risks due to their spatial environment. Recent studies have therefore called for the spatial environment to be introduced as a separate dimension in medical studies. Hence, this study investigates how and on which spatial scale relationships between the settlement morphology and the health status of the inhabitants can be identified. To this end, we summarize the current literature on the identification of slums from a geographical perspective and review the current literature on slums and health of the last five years (376 studies) focusing on the considered scales in the studies. We show that the majority of medical studies are restricted to certain geographical regions. It is desirable that the number of studies be adapted to the number of the respective population. On the basis of these studies, we develop a framework to investigate the relationship between space and health. Finally, we apply our methodology to investigate the relationship between the prevalence of slums and different health metrics using data of the global burden of diseases for different prefectures in Brazil on a subnational level