Banking Transactions in Switzerland and China

Traditional banking service providers in Switzerland are facing competition. Smartphone applications open up new possibilities. Will we pay our bills, open an account, or take out a loan directly with a smartphone app in future? Does this make postal services, traditional banks, and credit card companies redundant for banking services? This question cannot be answered with a clear yes or no. A glance in the direction of China might reveal where developments could lead in Switzerland. It can be assumed that the banking business will change and that the competitive pressure on traditional providers will increas

Erfolgreich integrieren

Wer ein Unternehmen kauft, trifft eine weitreichende und risikobehaftete Entscheidung. Eine Firmenübernahme erfordert grosse finanzielle und personelle Ressourcen und spezifische Fähigkeiten. Der hohe Einsatz erlaubt keinen Misserfolg. Ein gutes Integrationsmanagement ist deshalb entscheidend

Electoral Behaviour in a European Union under Stress

Is electoral behaviour affected by the current challenges of the EU and, if it is, through which channels and mechanisms? This study offers a cross-national analysis together with a broad understanding of both the crisis phenomenon and electoral behaviour. To investigate this research question appropriately, we first distinguish at the most general level between the two main behavioural alternatives at play when it comes to electoral behaviour, namely abstention and vote choice. Second, and no less important, we differentiate between the mechanisms that mediate the relationship between the ‘EU under stress’ and electoral behaviour, namely egocentric and sociotropic economic voting motivations. Drawing on data from the European Election Study 2014, our article provides important insights into the study of electoral behaviour in an EU under stress. First, we are able to show that the multiple crises that have hit the EU have the potential to determine both turnout and the decision to vote for a Eurosceptic party. Second, different mechanisms are in play for each of the two behavioural alternatives: Turnout is clearly related to egocentric determinants and thus depends on individuals’ personal exposure to the financial crisis. Conversely, the decision to vote for a Eurosceptic party is based on a different mechanism. Voters—without necessarily being personally affected by the crisis—have a higher propensity to vote for a Eurosceptic party if they perceive their country to be threatened by such an EU under stress. These findings add to a better understanding of the EU’s multi-level democracy

Evaluation of WiseMAC and extensions onwireless sensornodes

In the past five years, many energy-efficient medium access protocols for all kinds of wireless networks (WSNs) have been proposed. Some recently developed protocols focus on sensor networks with low traffic requirements are based on so-called preamble sampling or low-power listening. The WiseMAC protocol is one of the first of this kind and still is one of the most energy-efficient MAC protocols for WSNs with low or varying traffic requirements. However, the high energy-efficiency of WiseMAC has shown to come at the cost of a very limited maximum throughput. In this paper, we evaluate the properties and characteristics of a WiseMAC implementation in simulation and on real sensor hardware. We investigate on the energy-consumption of the prototype using state-of-the-art evaluation methodologies. We further propose and examine an enhancement of the protocol designed to improve the traffic-adaptivity of WiseMAC. By conducting both simulation and real-world experiments, we show that the WiseMAC extension achieves a higher maximum throughput at a slightly increased energy cost both in simulation and real-world experiment

Solving the TTC 2011 Compiler Optimization Task with metatools

The authors' "metatools" are a collection of tools for generic programming. This includes generating Java sources from mathematically well-founded specifications, as well as the creation of strictly typed document object models for XML encoded texts. In this context, almost every computer-internal structure is treated as a "model", and every computation is a kind of model transformation. This concept differs significantly from "classical model transformation" executed by specialized tools and languages. Therefore it seemed promising to the organizers of the TTC 2011, as well as to the authors, to apply metatools to one of the challenges, namely to the "compiler optimization task". This is a report on the resulting experiences.Comment: In Proceedings TTC 2011, arXiv:1111.440

Digitalisation in agriculture and its impact on social sustainability

Digitalisation in agriculture will lead to changes in the way farms are operated. In addition to the predicted changes in the ecological and economical dimensions of sustainability the social dimension which is examined in this publication, will also undergo a fundamental change. The social dimension of sustainability very often does not receive the same attention as the ecological and economical components. However, it is equally important and must not be neglected just because of the fact that quantification in this field is more complex than in the ecological or economical field. In order to predict which changes digitalisation will bring to agriculture a Delphi survey was conducted. The questions are based on the UNEP SETAC Guideline for social life cycle assessment. It should be mentioned that at DiWenkLa the material flows are in Germany. Issues such as child labor and forced labor which are major issues worldwide and which the UNEP SETAC guidelines aim to eliminate are not considered in this project. The focus is on how digitalisation is changing the social sustainability of agriculture in Southern Germany. The 17 questions were answered by experts in the fields of agriculture, sociology, agricultural extension, agricultural research, digitalisation and academia. The questionnaire is designed to determine the effects of digitalisation in agriculture on social sustainability.The main objective of this study is to develop a consensus on how digitalisation in agriculture affects the social dimension of sustainability. In Delphi Surveys, several rounds of interviews are conducted until the experts reach a consensus on the issue. A standardized questionnaire with predefined answers is sent out. After a successful response to the first round, the questionnaire is evaluated and the experts received the same questionnaire, amended with the answers from the first round, so that they can reconsider their decision. This procedure is repeated until a consensus is reached among the experts

Windscreen Optical Quality for AI Algorithms: Refractive Power and MTF not Sufficient

Windscreen optical quality is an important aspect of any advanced driver assistance system, and also for future autonomous driving, as today at least some cameras of the sensor suite are situated behind the windscreen. Automotive mass production processes require measurement systems that characterize the optical quality of the windscreens in a meaningful way, which for modern perception stacks implies meaningful for artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The measured optical quality needs to be linked to the performance of these algorithms, such that performance limits - and thus production tolerance limits - can be defined. In this article we demonstrate that the main metric established in the industry - refractive power - is fundamentally not capable of capturing relevant optical properties of windscreens. Further, as the industry is moving towards the modulation transfer function (MTF) as an alternative, we mathematically show that this metric cannot be used on windscreens alone, but that the windscreen forms a novel optical system together with the optics of the camera system. Hence, the required goal of a qualification system that is installed at the windscreen supplier and independently measures the optical quality cannot be achieved using MTF. We propose a novel concept to determine the optical quality of windscreens and to use simulation to link this optical quality to the performance of AI algorithms, which can hopefully lead to novel inspection systems