Harmonic cohomology of symplectic fiber bundles

We show that every de Rham cohomology class on the total space of a symplectic fiber bundle with closed Lefschetz fibers, admits a Poisson harmonic representative in the sense of Brylinski. The proof is based on a new characterization of closed Lefschetz manifolds

Metrically Scaled Monocular Depth Estimation through Sparse Priors for Underwater Robots

In this work, we address the problem of real-time dense depth estimation from monocular images for mobile underwater vehicles. We formulate a deep learning model that fuses sparse depth measurements from triangulated features to improve the depth predictions and solve the problem of scale ambiguity. To allow prior inputs of arbitrary sparsity, we apply a dense parameterization method. Our model extends recent state-of-the-art approaches to monocular image based depth estimation, using an efficient encoder-decoder backbone and modern lightweight transformer optimization stage to encode global context. The network is trained in a supervised fashion on the forward-looking underwater dataset, FLSea. Evaluation results on this dataset demonstrate significant improvement in depth prediction accuracy by the fusion of the sparse feature priors. In addition, without any retraining, our method achieves similar depth prediction accuracy on a downward looking dataset we collected with a diver operated camera rig, conducting a survey of a coral reef. The method achieves real-time performance, running at 160 FPS on a laptop GPU and 7 FPS on a single CPU core and is suitable for direct deployment on embedded systems. The implementation of this work is made publicly available at https://github.com/ebnerluca/uw_depth.Comment: Submitted to ICRA 202

From Efficiency to Innovativeness: Post-Adoption IT Use Types and Related Outcomes

Post-adoption use has gained considerable attention during the last ten years of IT acceptance research. As of today, various types of post-adoption use have been proposed, researched and linked to different outcomes. Missing from the literature is a precise consideration of the impact of different types of use on specific outcomes. Consequently, questions of transition between use types and the resulting consequences for outcomes remain unanswered. In order to address this need, we have performed an intensive, conceptual literature study and propose a continuum of use types and mechanisms that foster an understanding of how post-adoption use not only leads to short- and mid-term IT-enabled outcomes such as efficiency and effectiveness, but also to long-term, complex outcomes such as innovativeness. We model these mechanisms as movements that occur along the continuum of use types and operate through the experiential learning cycle of knowledge acquisition and transformation. This cycle takes the form of a broadening and deepening of feature sets—a group of features that an individual has associated together and assigned to one or more tasks or tasks groups. To illustrate our research model, we provide an example based on a company from the auditing industry. Our research contributes to theory by 1) developing a typology of use in post-adoption and 2) explaining how a user moves between different post-adoption use types and arrives at different IT-enabled outcomes. We show how the notions of feature set deepening and broadening can be used to explain the attainment of short-term outcomes such as efficiency and effectiveness, and, beyond that, also to explain long-term outcomes such as innovativeness. We demonstrate that the achievement of outcomes is not a linear function as a user moves along the continuum, but a complex, non-linear process

Are You Responsible for Traffic Congestion? A Systematic Review of the Socio-technical Perspective of Smart Mobility Services

A large amount of the pollution of modern cities is caused by individual transportation. Hence, many road users suffer from stress, emissions and noise. Smart mobility services can help improving the situa-tion by distributing traffic more consistently across different routes, times, and transportation modes. These services comprise two dimensions, a technical and a socio-technical. The latter addresses the road user’s role as data and knowledge provider and stresses the road user’s role in actively contributing to relieved traffic. As such, road users display one of the strongest levers to sustainably relieve traffic both in terms of knowledge providers and traffic actors. Using a systematic analysis of 28 publications, we show that existing SMob services show several chal-lenges related to the involvement of road users. We call for more research on SMob services that account for long-term user involvement e.g. by positively in-fluences road users’ practices and routines

The Role of IT Feature Recombinations in Individuals\u27 Innovative Use of IT

Innovations do not emerge in isolation but are to some extent recombinations of previously existing building blocks. In this paper, we build on the recombination processes feature set broadening and deepening to show how individuals innovate with IT. We employ a qualitative research setting using a rich case of a self-tracker, who constantly changed his use of a stress tracking device from simple meditation to, eventually, a creative use configuration allowing him to sense stress at work, address prejudicial work-related behavioral patterns, and increase his work-related performance. Our preliminary analysis show that innovating with IT operates in constant cycles of feature set broadening and deepening, with broadening preceding the deepening. By linking feature set broadening and deepening to existing tasks as well as to new deliverables, we intend to clarify the relationships and transitions between different configurations of innovative use and show which patterns of innovative use occur over time

Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments and Adaptive Learning Systems – Development of Functionality Taxonomies

Especially against the background of the current coronavirus crisis, technology-enhanced learning environments (TELEs) increasingly characterize teaching at universities. For the successful use and integration of TELEs, it is important to understand the functionalities of the technologies used. Based on the state of the art and following [1], we develop two taxonomies. The first taxonomy depicts eleven functionalities with different dimensions relevant for successfully designing TELEs. Sound knowledge of the functionalities supports research on adaptive learning within TELEs and the implementation of student-centered learning opportunities, which is structured in a second functionality taxonomy for adaptive learning systems (ALSs). We contribute to current research on TELEs and ALSs by providing a structured overview of functionalities and suggestions for further research with our research opportunities

Free Ride in Rush-hour Traffic – Designing Gamified Smart Mobility Systems for Sustainable Use

A large proportion of traffic congestion can be attributed to daily commute. While smart mobility systems (SMSs) intend to address the resulting challenges by actively changing users’ behavior, many SMSs suffer from users’ meaningful engagement. Research and practice have started examining engagement factors in order to increase meaningful engagement with SMSs. The question of how traffic participants can be continuously involved with SMSs to sustainably change their behavior has not been answered satisfactorily yet. In our paper, we identify relevant gamification elements suitable to improve meaningful engagement based on a literature study and market analysis. We used a design science approach to derive design requirements. Building on these, we assume comprehensive design principles and used them to derive initial design features. With these, we started a first feature configuration and a prototypical app implementation towards designing a sustainable SMS

Die Ökonomie von Fusionen und Übernahmen

This dissertation builds on the economic research about M&A and the effects on the merging plants' performance. In particular, the objective of this thesis is to shed some light on questions about causal effects of M&A on plants' performance, taking firm heterogeneity into account. Since there is no typical merger (Tichy, 2001) it distinguishes between acquiring and target plants, and between horizontal and non-horizontal mergers. The thesis focuses on two major research questions: do plants with specific characteristics self-select in merger activity, and is there a causal effect of M&A on the merging plants' performance parameters, in particular on labor productivity, employment, and skill-intensity? The results allow drawing some conclusions about the reasons why plants merge. The thesis consists of four chapters. All contributions have in common that they focus on questions about the effects of M&A on plant performance. That is, the thesis does not discuss questions about the effects of M&A on industry and aggregation concentration levels, or the effects of M&A on social welfare. Each chapter in this thesis can be read separately, because they are based on stand-alone papers. Hence, all chapters have their own introduction and conclusion. The structure and storyline of this thesis and the interaction of the chapters are as follows: the first chapter is a survey about M&A and acts as an introduction to this research field. The second chapter describes propensity score matching as a newer microeconometric evaluation method and explains its implementation in the econometric computer software STATA. In a certain sense, the second chapter serves as a preparation for a better understanding of the econometric analysis performed in chapters three and four, which form the heart of the thesis. They both discuss questions about self-selection of plants into merger activity, and questions about causal effects on plants' performance. In particular, the third chapter focuses on the effects on merging plants' labor productivity, while the fourth chapter focuses on the effects on both employment and skill-intensity. Even if both chapters discuss the effects on different performance parameters, they are similar with respect to motivation, structure, and estimation strategy. Hence, there is some inevitable overlapping between these two chapters which are based on stand-alone papers as mentioned abov

Waterfront cities

Darstellung und Untersuchung von Best-Practice-Beispielen zur Erhöhung der nachhaltigen Konkurrenzfähigkeit von urbanen Räumen durch Sanierung und Umnutzung von UferzonenDescription and analysis of best-practice-examples for the increase of sustainability and competitiveness in urban areas by redevelopment and conversion of the urban waterfron

Guerilla Marketing Using Social Media as a Success Strategy in Crowdfunding Campaigns: Towards a Research Model

Crowdfunding enables project initiators to obtain money from unknown supporters worldwide to finance their business ideas. To receive funding, an adequate and effective communication between project initiators and supporters is very important. However, traditional marketing activities’ high costs are often unaffordable. Therefore, guerrilla marketing represents an unconventional and inexpensive way to gain reach and popularity, especially if done via social media. Research has largely neglected the ways different marketing activities and social media influence crowdfunding success. The contribution of our work-in-progress is that we provide a theoretical and integrative understanding of how guerrilla marketing has an influence on crowdfunding success via social media. We derive a preliminary model on crowdfunding success from literature and test it against seven cases of crowdfunding campaigns which employed guerrilla marketing in their social media campaigns. Subsequently, using inductive case analysis, we extend the current understanding of crowdfunding success to an initial research model