Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

Assessing the Usefulness of Visualization Tools to Investigate Hidden Patterns with Insider Attack Cases

The insider threat is a major concern for organizations. Open markets, technological advances, and the evolving definition of employee have exacerbated the insider threat. Insider threat research efforts are focusing on both prevention and detection techniques. However, recent security violation trends highlight the damage insider attacks cause organizations and illuminate why organizations and researchers must develop new approaches to this challenge. Although fruitful research is being conducted and new technologies are being applied to the insider threat problem, companies remain susceptible to the costly damage generated by insider threat actions. This research explored how visualization tools may be useful in highlighting patterns or relationships in insider attack case data and sought to determine if visualization software can assist in generating hypotheses for future insider threat research. The research analyzes cases of insider attack crimes committed during the period of 1998 to 2004 with an information visualization tool, IN-SPIRE. The results provide some evidence that visualization tools are useful in both finding patterns and generating hypotheses. By identifying new knowledge from insider threat cases, current insider threat models may be refined and other potential solutions may be discovered

Beyond Budgeting i den norske hotellbransjen som følge av Covid-19

Covid-19 har ført til nedgangstider i de aller fleste bransjer i Norge. Særlig hardt rammet har reiselivsbransjen vært, noe spesielt hotellene har fått kjenne på. Nedgangstider og ustabile omgivelser stiller krav til tilpasning og endring, også gjennom hvordan bedriftene styres. Mange hevder at bedrifter i krisesituasjoner som Covid-19 vil dra nytte av mer dynamiske styringsverktøy og en mer desentralisert form for ledelse, i tillegg til at man bør forkaste budsjettet da det blir sett på som for utdatert. Denne filosofien kalles Beyond Budgeting, og har siden sin opprinnelse på 1990-tallet fått stadig mer fotfeste i både norsk og internasjonalt næringsliv. Andre hevder derimot at en krisesituasjon som Covid-19 skaper såpass stor usikkerhet at bedriftene bør agere motsatt – nemlig at man bør holde fast ved det trygge og skape mest mulig kontroll ved å bruke budsjettet mer og sentralisere beslutningsmyndigheten. Formålet med denne masteravhandlingen er å belyse hvordan pandemien har påvirket graden av Beyond Budgeting i norske hotellers styringspraksis. Det undersøkes blant annet hvorvidt pandemien har ført til en økt, uendret eller redusert grad av Beyond Budgeting i den norske hotellbransjen, i tillegg til at det undersøkes hvilke faktorer i bransjen som kan assosieres med Beyond Budgeting-endring. Funnene tyder på at pandemien ikke har hatt en betydelig påvirkning på graden av Beyond Budgeting i norske hotellers styringspraksis. Det er imidlertid flere hoteller som har økt graden av Beyond Budgeting som følge av pandemien, enn som har redusert graden. I tillegg kan økt digitalisering, ustabile omgivelser og kjedetilhørighet til en viss grad assosieres med endring av Beyond Budgeting-praksis, men disse assosiasjonene er ikke av betydelig art. Avhandlingen er en av få studier som tar for seg Beyond Budgeting som et målbart, kvantitativt fenomen. Ved hjelp av en nøye gjennomgang av hva som går igjen i både Beyond Budgeting-teori og øvrig forskning, måles Beyond Budgeting av totalt syv variabler i denne studien. Gjennom disse variablene måles det endring av Beyond Budgeting-grad som følge av pandemien, men også graden av Beyond Budgeting i bransjen både i dag og før pandemien. Variablene blir målt gjennom en elektronisk spørreundersøkelse sendt ut til totalt 831 norske hoteller, hvor 75 av disse hotellene besvarte undersøkelsen

Spin-glass-like behavior of Ge:Mn

We present a detailed study of the magnetic properties of low-temperature-molecular-beam-epitaxy grown Ge:Mn dilute magnetic semiconductor films. We find strong indications for a frozen state of Ge_{1-x}Mn_{x}, with freezing temperatures of T_f=12K and T_f=15K for samples with x=0.04 and x=0.2, respectively, determined from the difference between field-cooled and zero-field-cooled magnetization. For Ge_{0.96}Mn_{0.04}, ac susceptibility measurements show a peak around T_f, with the peak position T'_f shifting as a function of the driving frequency f by Delta T_f' / [T_f' Delta log f] ~ 0.06, whereas for sample Ge_{0.8}Mn_{0.2} a more complicated behavior is observed. Furthermore, both samples exhibit relaxation effects of the magnetization after switching the magnitude of the external magnetic field below T_f which are in qualitative agreement with the field- and zero-field-cooled magnetization measurements. These findings consistently show that Ge:Mn exhibits a frozen magnetic state at low temperatures and that it is not a conventional ferromagnet.Comment: Revised version contains extended interpretation of experimental dat

SU(N) Antiferromagnets and Strongly Coupled QED: Effective Field Theory for Josephson Junctions Arrays

We review our analysis of the strong coupling of compact QED on a lattice with staggered Fermions. We show that, for infinite coupling, compact QED is exactly mapped in a quantum antiferromagnet. We discuss some aspects of this correspondence relevant for effective field theories of Josephson junctions arrays.Comment: 33 pages,latex,Proceedings of "Common Trends in Condensed Matter and High Energy Physics",DFUPG 1/9

Conceptualizing Climate Vulnerability in Complex Adaptive Systems

This Perspective develops a novel approach for assessing the vulnerability of complex adaptive systems to climate change. Our characterization focuses on the dynamic nature of vulnerability and its role in developing differential risk across multi-dimensional systems, communities, or societies. We expand on past conceptualizations that have examined vulnerability as processual rather than a static or binary state and note the necessary role of complexity and complex adaptive systems theory as a basis for effective vulnerability assessment. In illustrating our approach, we demonstrate the importance of factors such as modulation (connectedness), feedback mechanisms, redundancy, and the susceptibility of individual components within a system to change. Understanding the complexity of potentially vulnerable systems in this manner can help unravel the causes of vulnerability, facilitate the identification and characterization of potential adaptive deficits within specific dimensions of complex adaptive systems, and direct opportunities for adaptation

Computational and mathematical approaches to societal transitions

After an introduction of the theoretical framework and concepts of transition studies, this article gives an overview of how structural change in social systems has been studied from various disciplinary perspectives. This overview first leads to the conclusion that computational and mathematical approaches and their practical form, modeling, up till now, have been almost absent in the research and theorizing of structural change or transitions in social systems. Second, this review of the social science literature suggests numerous theoretical constructs relevant for transition modeling. Relevant concepts include the conceptualization of the micro-to-macro link, the importance of explaining both stability and change, quantitative and qualitative definitions of structural change, the use of dichotomies, synchronic and diachronic reasoning in explaining structural change, definitions of basic patterns of social change, the conceptualization of resistance to change and intentional and normative aspects of social change. This article employs these theoretical concepts to describe and discuss the models presented in this special issue in order to develop an understanding of what exactly entails a computational or mathematical approach to societal transitions

Modeling the Total Allowable Area for Coastal Reclamation : a case study of Xiamen, China

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2013. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ocean & Coastal Management 76 (2013):38-44, doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.02.015.This paper presents an analytical framework to estimate the Total Allowable Area for Coastal Reclamation (TAACR) to provide scientific support for the implementation of a coastal reclamation restriction mechanism. The logic of the framework is to maximize the net benefits of coastal reclamation subject to a set of constraints. Various benefits and costs, including the ecological and environmental costs of coastal reclamation, are systematically quantified in the framework. Model simulations are developed using data from Tongan Bay of Xiamen. The results suggest that the TAACR in Tongan Bay is 5.67 km2, and the area of the Bay should be maintained at least at 87.52 km2.The study was funded by the National Oceanic Public Welfare Projects (No. 201105006) and the Fujian Natural Science Foundation (No. 2010J01360