Institutions and labour market outcomes in the EU - A Social Model Employment Efficiency and Income Distribution Index

Labour market performance as measured by employment rates and inequality of income distribution show significant differences among EU countries. In 2014 the variation in employment rates was between 48.8% in Greece and 74.4% in Sweden. Inequality in income distribution as measured by S80/S20 income quintile share ratio ranges in 2013 from 3.4 in Czech Republic to 6.6 in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece and has risen especially in Southeast European countries during the last years. To some extent, labour market and social institutions may account for these differences. Implemented social models in Europe differ from each other by different combinations of policies and institutions showing the dimensions of social models. We use these dimensions to develop two indices which capture the employment and income distribution efficiency of social models i.e. shows how institutions impact on employment and income distribution. Both indices can be used to rank and compare the institutional quality of social models across EU countries

Flexicurity : Vorbild für die neuen Mitgliedstaaten (NMS)?

Im Zuge der aufholenden Wirtschaftsentwicklung und Integration in die EU ist in den NMS ein tief greifender Strukturwandel von sektoraler und regionaler Produktion und Beschäftigung aber auch von Qualifikationsprofilen zu verzeichnen. Die durch den Strukturwandel geforderte Anpassungsfähigkeit der Arbeitsmärkte wird nicht unwesentlich durch die Mischung von institutioneller Ausgestaltung der Arbeitsmärkte und sozialer Sicherheit bestimmt. Im folgenden Beitrag wird das Konzept der Flexicurity, das im Rahmen der europäischen Beschäftigungsstrategie als Antwort auf die Herausforderungen der Globalisierung bei gleichzeitiger Bewahrung des europäischen Sozialmodells gesehen wird (European Commission, 2007), als Referenzmodell verwendet, um zu beleuchten wo sich die NMS innerhalb des Mix von Arbeitsmarktflexibilität und inkommenssicherheit im Vergleich zu den anderen EU-Staaten positioniert haben. Abschließend erfolgen einige Anmerkungen zu Problemen der Realisierung von Flexicurity in den NMS.

gEYEded: Subtle and Challenging Gaze-Based Player Guidance in Exploration Games

This paper investigates the effects of gaze-based player guidance on the perceived game experience, performance, and challenge in a first-person exploration game. In contrast to existing research, the proposed approach takes the game context into account by providing players not only with guidance but also granting them an engaging game experience with a focus on exploration. This is achieved by incorporating gaze-sensitive areas that indicate the location of relevant game objects. A comparative study was carried out to validate our concept and to examine if a game supported with a gaze guidance feature triggers a more immersive game experience in comparison to a crosshair guidance version and a solution without any guidance support. In general, our study findings reveal a more positive impact of the gaze-based guidance approach on the experience and performance in comparison to the other two conditions. However, subjects had a similar impression concerning the game challenge in all conditions

Influence of marketing communication on financial result of industrial enterprise

Досліджено вплив маркетингових комунікацій на фінансовий результат промислового підприємства. Розглянуто зміст поняття "фінансовий результат", що займає центральне місце у системі управління та характеризує всі сторони фінансово-господарської діяльності підприємства. Фінансовий результат у формі прибутку виступає головною метою існування підприємства на ринку та одним з ключових показників, який визначає ефективність його діяльності. Перелічено функції фінансових результатів підприємства. Перелічено традиційні та нетрадиційні комунікації, що впливають на позитивний фінансовий результат діяльності підприємства. Запропоновано модель впливу маркетингових комунікацій на фінансовий результат промислового підприємства за рахунок складових комунікативного та економічного ефекту, що дозволяє відстежити вплив кожного заходу маркетингових комунікацій на фінансовий результат промислового підприємства в цілому. Маркетингові комунікаційні заходи призводять до комунікативного ефекту, який виражається у декількох напрямках: інформуванні цільової аудиторії; формуванні певної думки про підприємство та його продукцію; мобілізації споживачів та покупців на певні дії; підвищення рівня активної популярності підприємства; встановлення стійких позитивних асоціацій; збільшення лояльності споживачів і впізнавання бренду виробника. Позитивний комунікативний ефект веде до економічного ефекту: збільшення частки ринку; збільшення товарообігу; підвищення кількості замовлень; збільшення марочного капіталу. У свою чергу, складові економічного ефекту призводять до збільшення прибутку підприємства, що і забезпечує фінансовий результат його діяльності. Узагальнено критерії визначення ефекту від впровадження традиційних та нетрадиційних комунікаційних маркетингових заходів.The influence of marketing communications on the financial result of the industrial enterprise is investigated. The content of the concept of "financial result", which occupies a central place in the management system and characterizes all aspects of the financial and economic activity of the enterprise, is considered. The financial result in the form of profit serves the main purpose of the company's existence in the market and one of the key indicators that determines the effectiveness of its activities. The functions of financial results of the enterprise are listed. Listed traditional and non-traditional communications that affect the positive financial performance of the enterprise. The model of the influence of marketing communications on the financial result of the industrial enterprise due to the components of the communicative and economic effect, which allows to trace the influence of each measure of marketing communications on the financial result of the industrial enterprise as a whole, is proposed. Marketing communication measures lead to a communicative effect, which is expressed in several ways: informing the target audience; formation of a certain opinion about the company and its products; mobilizing consumers and buyers for certain actions; increase of the level of active popularity of the enterprise; establishment of stable positive associations; increase consumer loyalty and brand recognition of the manufacturer. A positive communicative effect leads to an economic effect: an increase in the market share; increase in goods turnover; increase in the number of orders; increase of venture capital. In turn, the components of the economic effect lead to an increase in the company's profit, which ensures the financial result of its activities. The criteria for defining the effect of introducing traditional and non-traditional communication marketing measures are summarized

Die neuen Mitglieder: Motor oder Bremse der europäischen Integration?

Am 1. Mai 2004 traten zehn weitere Länder der Europäischen Union bei. Dieses Jahr folgten Bulgarien und Rumänien. Mit 27 Nationen ist nunmehr der weltweit größte Staatenbund und Wirtschaftsraum mit mehr als 500 Mill. Menschen entstanden. Drei Jahre nach der Osterweiterung ist es an der Zeit, eine erste Bilanz zu ziehen. Wurden die Erwartungen erfüllt? Vor welchen politischen und wirtschaftlichen Problemen stehen die neuen Mitgliedsländer? Welche Wirkungen hatte die Erweiterung auf die EU? Zu diesen Fragen fand vom 15. bis 17. Juni 2007 in der Akademie für Politische Bildung Tutzing in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Osteuropa-Institut, München, unter der Leitung von Wolfgang Quaisser eine Tagung statt. Wilhelm Kohler, Universität Tübingen, stellte fest, dass die Frage nach dem Nutzen der EU-Osterweiterung für die alten Mitglieder weder aus Sicht der Wachstumstheorie noch aus Sicht der Empirie eindeutig zu beantworten sei. Er wolle zwar nicht das Gespenst einer "Wachstumsbremse Osterweiterung" an die Wand malen, aber nach dem Motto "Handel ist gut für das Wachstum" in umgekehrter Richtung zu erwarten, dass von der Osterweiterung wesentliche langfristige Wachstumsimpulse für die bestehenden Mitgliedsländer ausgehen werden, sei bei nüchterner Betrachtung doch etwas naiv. Schließlich dürfe man nicht vergessen, dass der weitaus größere Teil der Wachstumsgrundlagen in der Hand der nationalen Regierungen liege. Der durch diese oder andere Erweiterungen der EU bewirkte marginale Effekt werde - zumindest langfristig betrachtet - wohl nur von untergeordneter Bedeutung sein. Christian Arndt und Anselm Matthes, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW), Tübingen, beschäftigten sich mit den Effekten von Offshore-Aktivitäten deutscher Unternehmen. In ihrer Analyse dreier verschiedener Datensätze wiesen sie darauf hin, dass der Großteil der entsprechenden Auslandsengagements deutscher Unternehmen vom Motiv der Markterschließung getrieben ist.Wirtschaftliche Integration, EU-Erweiterung, Wirtschaftswachstum, Beschäftigungseffekt, Arbeitsmarktpolitik, Euro, Wechselkurspolitik, EU-Staaten

Personalization in Serious and Persuasive Games and Gamified Interactions

© Lennart Nacke, 2015. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in CHI PLAY '15 Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, https://doi.org/10.1145/2793107.2810260Serious and persuasive games and gamified interactions have become popular in the last years, especially in the realm of behavior change support systems. They have been used as tools to support and influence human behavior in a variety of fields, such as health, sustainability, education, and security. It has been shown that personalized serious and persuasive games and gamified interactions can increase effectivity of supporting behavior change compared to "one-size-fits all"-systems. However, how serious games and gamified interactions can be personalized, which factors can be used to personalize (e.g. personality, gender, persuadability, player types, gamification user types, states, contextual/situational variables), what effect personalization has (e.g. on player/user experience) and whether there is any return on investment is still largely unexplored. This full-day workshop aims at bringing together the academic and industrial community as well as the gaming and gamification community to jointly explore these topics and define a future roadmap.Österreichische ForschungsförderungsgesellschaftPeer-reviewe

Toward improving practices for submission of diagnostic tissue blocks for National Cancer Institute clinical trials

OBJECTIVES: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network performs phase II and III clinical trials, which increasingly rely on the submission of diagnostic formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks for biomarker assessment. Simultaneously, advances in precision oncology require that clinical centers maintain diagnostic specimens for ancillary, standard-of-care diagnostics. This has caused tissue blocks to become a limited resource for advancing the NCI clinical trial enterprise and the practice of modern molecular pathology. METHODS: The NCI convened a 1-day workshop of multidisciplined experts to discuss barriers and strategic solutions to facilitate diagnostic block submission for clinical trial science, from the perspective of patient advocates, legal experts, pathologists, and clinical oncologists. RESULTS: The expert views and opinions were carefully noted and reported. CONCLUSIONS: Recommendations were proposed to reduce institutional barriers and to assist organizations in developing clear policies regarding diagnostic block submission for clinical trials

SpEYEders: Adults’ and children’s affective responses during immersive playful gaze interactions transforming virtual spiders

Specific phobias like spider phobia represent a frequent mental health problem in children and adolescents, demanding innovative prevention and treatment approaches. We therefore develop an eye tracking supported Virtual Reality serious game for school-aged children, realizing gaze interactions to promote attention towards, and positive experiences during exposure to spiders. Within pilot studies in adults (n=30) and children (n=14) without fear of spiders, we assessed positive and negative affect during prototype gaze feedback through five different variants: If gazed for few seconds, the virtual spider changed into a shrunk, a rainbow coloured, or dying spider, or morphed into a smileyball, or speaks friendly. We found the highest positive affect for the rainbow and smileyball variant, followed by the shrunk and friendly speaking variant. In contrast, the dying variant was excluded due to the possible induction of negative affect. Findings indicate eligible variants for the further development of the VR serious game

Looking fear in the eye: Gamified virtual reality exposure towards spiders for children using attention based feedback

Many children around the globe suffer from spider phobia. Virtual reality exposure therapy is an effective phobia treatment, but so far predominantly tailored for adults. A gamified approach utilizing gaze interaction would allow for a more child-friendly and engaging experience, and provide the possibility to foster working mechanisms of exposure therapy. We developed an application in which children make spiders change in positively connoted ways (e.g., make them dance or shrink) if sufficient visual attention towards them is captured via eye tracking. Thereby, motivation for and positive affects during exposure towards spiders are aspired. In this pilot study on 21 children without (n = 11) and with fear of spiders (n = 10), we examined positive and negative affect during exposure to a virtual spider and to different gaze-related transformations of the spider within a quasi-experimental design. Within a one-group design, we additionally examined fear of spiders in spider fearful children before and one week after the intervention. We found that significantly more positive than negative affect was induced by the spiders’ transformations in children without and with fear of spiders. Fear of spiders was furthermore significantly reduced in spider-fearful children, showing large effect sizes (d > .80). Findings indicate eligibility for future clinical use and evaluation in children with spider phobia